An alleged suicide bomber blew himself
up in Balochistan’s Sibi town on
Thursday, police said whereas two
women were killed in a gunfiring incident
in Loralai area of the province. Unknown
militants also blew up train tracks in
Naseerabad district earlier during the
day disrupting railway traffic between
the province and other parts of the
country. Deputy Superintendent Police
Ali Nawaz said the suicide bomber, who
blew himself up... PAGE 03

Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on
Thursday took suo motu notice of the
Taliban’s warning to Ismailis and the
Kalash tribe of Chitral Valley to convert to
Islam. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) on February 2, released a video
announcing an armed jihad against the
Ismaili Muslim sect and Kalash people.
They were threatened to convert to
Islam or face death. The CJ also issued
summons to Attorney General Pakistan
(AGP) and advocate... PAGE 02

SHAHBAZ
EXPLORES
ENERGY
PROSPECTS
INSTORY
CHINA
ON PAGE 05

Ukraine truce
shattered, death
toll tops 50
Fresh fighting broke out in central Kiev
on Thursday, shattering a truce
declared by Ukrainian President Viktor
Yanukovich, as the Russian-backed
leader met European ministers
demanding he compromise with proEU opponents. “Berkut” riot policemen,
shown on television, fired bursts from
automatic rifles on the run as they
covered retreating colleagues fleeing
past a nearby arts center. In other
video, an opposition... PAGE 04

LMoST all the federal ministries and departments have
failed to meet the January 31
deadline to submit budgetary
demands for the next fiscal
year with the relevant standing committees of the National Assembly, Pakistan Today has learnt.
However, it seems that the Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government has no regard for the parliamentary
oversight and input by lawmakers as none
of the ministries have taken measures to
fulfill their constitutional obligation.
Meanwhile, the Information Technology (IT) Ministry is likely to be the first
to submit its proposed Public Sector Development Projects (PSDP) demand of Rs
2813.341 million for FY-2014-15 on Friday (today) in the meeting of the National
Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT.
In January 29, 2013, the National Assembly passed an amendment moved by
PML-N lawmaker Anusha Rehman
Khan, but after taking the charge of the IT
Ministry, she did not direct her ministry

IT MINISTRY
ADDITIONAL SECRETARY
SAYS MINISTRY WOULD
SUBMIT BUDGETARY
PROPOSALS TO
COMMITTEE TODAY
to meet the legal obligation. The amendment was aimed at enabling the lawmakers to scrutinize the PSDP demands and
give recommendations to help parliament
in preparing an error-free budget.
The civil society and monitoring bodies have also reminded the government to
fulfill its obligation, but to no avail. In a
recent letter sent to NA Speaker Ayaz
Sadiq, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative
Development and Transparency (PILDAT) said that various federal ministries
had submitted their PSDP budget proposals to the respective committees. It also
said that through a key reform passed by
the outgoing NA the committees had been
empowered to scrutinize and suggest
amendments in this regard.
“This change in rules now means that
each ministry is supposed to submit its
budgetary proposals relating to the PSDP
for the next financial year not later than
January 31 to the committee concerned.
The committees are required to make recommendations latest by March 1 on the
budget back to the Ministry,” the letter
said. IT Minister Anusha Rahman did not
feel it necessary to respond to the questions raised by Pakistan Today.

Pakistan assures India
of an early outcome in
Mumbai attacks trial
MALE: Pakistan on Thursday assured India that it is
moving swiftly with the trial of seven persons accused of
involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and an
outcome is expected in a “couple of months”. The
assurance came during a 30-minute meeting between
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and
Sartaj Aziz, adviser to prime minister for national security
and foreign affairs. During the meeting, India reiterated
its long-standing demand to advance the trial of those
charged for the attacks that left 166 people dead and
over 300 injured. “In response to the demand, the
Pakistani leader assured Khurshid that his government
was moving expeditiously with the trial and an outcome
was expected in a couple of months,” an official said. The
two leaders met on the sidelines of a SAARC Foreign
Ministers’ conference here. India last year handed over
five key documents running into nearly 600 pages for use
in the trial so that prosecutors could proceed against the
accused. The documents include a certified copy of the
Indian Supreme Court’s judgement on the case,
depositions by two doctors who conducted the autopsy of
nine slain terrorists and the chief investigating officer who
probed the case. Various aspects of India-Pakistan ties,
including Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) for
Indian goods, cross-LoC trade, the visa regime and
observations of the Judicial Commission for Prisoners
were discussed during the meeting. Official sources said
Khurshid and Aziz also discussed the issue of visas. The
two envoys also discussed observations made by the
India-Pakistan Judicial Commission for Prisoners after its
members visited various jails in both countries. Salman
Khurshid and Sartaj Aziz are also expected to meet at an
international conference next month. INP

Later, IT Ministry Additional Secretary Azmat Ranjha said that the ministry
had finalised its budgetary proposals and
the same would be submitted to the committee on Friday (today). “Due to some
unavoidable reasons, the standing committee could not meet last month. But we
had prepared our budgetary proposals and
demands for the next fiscal,” he asserted.
Ranjha insisted that Anusha Rahman
was concerned about meeting the January
31 deadline. “Under the prescribed
rules, the budgetary proposals
could be presented to the committees until end of February
and we will meet this timeline. So no delay is committed,” he said, despite the
fact that the amendment
is self-explanatory and
contradicts
claims
made by Ranjha.
PSDP
DemanDS: According to the
official documents of the
IT Mini s t r y
available
with
Pakistan
Today,
the ministry
has proposed Rs
2,813.341 million PSDP
for FY-2014-15 for 24 ongoing
and seven new projects. of the total
demand, Rs 1,826.750 million have been

sought for sponsoring 24 ongoing projects as compared to last year’s allocation for the same head which was Rs
927.093 million. This year, the demand
has been almost doubled as excessive
amount of Rs 840.159 million have
been demanded. According to documents, Rs 986.591 million have been
sought for sponsoring seven new projects to be initiated in three departments
of the ministry, including the project
wing of PCB, Pakistan Software
Export Board and Special
Communication
o rg a n i s a tion.

British groups write to Mamnoon
for release of blasphemy convict
LONDON
ONLINE

Politicians and academics in Britain have called
for the release of a mentally ill Briton Mohammad
Asghar who was sentenced to death in Pakistan
for blasphemy. In an open letter published on
Thursday, the group raised concerns about Mohammed
Asg h a r ’ s
well-being and
urged the president of Pakistan
to
intervene.
Signatories to
the open letter,
published in the
Independent
newspaper, include Labour’s
shadow Justice
Secretary Sadiq
Khan, Scottish
human rights
lawyer Aamer
Anwar, academics from the
Muslim Institute, the Islamic Society of Britain
and a host of charities. The letter is addressed to
Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain. The 70year-old retired grocery shop owner, who lived in
Edinburgh for 30 years, had moved to Rawalpindi
in 2010 after being diagnosed with paranoid
schizophrenia. Shortly afterwards the father-of-

CMYK

five was arrested for claiming to be a prophet. Asghar was convicted of blasphemy last month and
his family immediately launched a campaign for
him to be released from custody in order to receive medical help. Kate Higham, a case worker
for Reprieve, the charity that is representing Asghar in Pakistan, said, “His family are very distressed at this situation and concerned about his
treatment, but
they are doing
everything they
can to make sure
he receives what
he needs.” The
letter read that
Asghar needed
medical attention for his illness and should
therefore be released from Adiala jail. “We
respectfully urge
you to consider
using your discretionary powers as President
to pardon Asghar and to allow him to be released
from jail so that he can receive his treatment and
be reunited with his loving family,” it added. The
blasphemy complaint was brought against Asghar
by a tenant with whom he was having a dispute.
His family have appealed to the UK Government
to do everything it can to make sure he is safe.

Zaka Ashraf’s
sacking: IHC
issues notices to
PM, Najam Sethi
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court
(IHC) on Thursday issued notices to Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif, Ministry for InterProvincial Coordination and Pakistan Cricket
Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi
pertaining to the case of removal of Zaka
Ashraf from the post of PCB chairman. A
number of other PCB officials were also
issued notices. Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi
heard the petition filed by former test
cricketer Ahmed Nawaz Khan against the
sacking of Ashraf. The petitioner pleaded
that it was illegal as Ashraf had no charges
of corruption against him. The petitioner
further pleaded the court to declare Sethi’s
appointment notification void. INP

Three suspected
Indian spies
arrested while
crossing border
KASUR: Law enforcement agencies have
arrested at least three persons suspected
of spying for India on Thursday. According
to sources, three alleged spies namely
Kashif, Umair and Shah Zain were arrested
from Kasur while trying to cross into India.
Sources said that Indian currency, sensitive
documents, maps and pictures have been
recovered from their possession. It is
suspected that they were undercover
agents of Indian intelligence agencies. The
forces shifted them to undisclosed location
for further interrogation. STAFF REPORT

Imran summoned
for hurling ‘insult’
at senators
ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Standing
Committee for Rules and Procedures on
Thursday summoned Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (INP) Chairman Imran Khan for
hurling ‘insulting’ remarks at senators and
army. Committee Chairman Tahir Hussain
Mashhadi issued the notice while presiding
over a meeting at the Parliament House.
Senator Jafar Iqbal told the committee
that he along with other senators had
submitted a privilege motion against
Imran Khan. He said that the PTI chief
adopted a non-democratic behaviour by
criticising the army and ‘insulting’ the
senators. Mashhadi said a House member
could not insult any lawmaker. He said the
PTI chairman would be given a chance to
appear before the committee in 10 days
and present his version. INP

Anti-polio workers
escape terrorist
attack in Charsadda
CHARSADDA: Unidentified terrorists on
Thursday fired at lady health workers
(LHWs) engaged in anti-polio campaign
but they remained unhurt. Police said that
terrorists riding motorcycles opened fire
on the LHWs in Sherpao area, Tehsil Tangi
of Charsadda, but they saved themselves
by entering a nearby house. The
attackers managed to escape after the
incident. The LHWs were on their way to
the Rural Health Centre (RHC) Sherpao to
collect the polio vaccine. INP

Friday, 21 February, 2014

NEWS

03

Army will do the talking now!
ISLAMABAD

AT LEAST 40 MILITANTS
KILLED IN AIRSTRIKES
IN NORTH WAZIRISTAN
AND KHYBER AGENCY

MIAN ABRAR/SHAMIM SHAHID

P

ERTURBED over the
failure of peace talks and
killing of hundreds of innocent countrymen and
security personnel at the
hands of the Taliban, the country’s
top civil and military bosses have
finally decided to teach Taliban a
lesson. The decision was expressed
in deadly airstrikes in the restive
North Waziristan and Khyber agencies of the tribal areas in which at
least 40 militants were eliminated.
Addressing a press conference on
Thursday, Interior Minister Chaudhry
Nisar Ali Khan said that carrying on
with peace talks with the Taliban amid
terrorist attacks throughout the country would be injustice to the victims
of such attacks. “Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif and the military leadership do not intend to carry on with dialogue amid terrorist attacks. The
premier wanted to eradicate terrorism
through dialogue with the Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP) and sincere
efforts were put in that regard by
forming a negotiating committee but
the other side did not respond positively to the gestures,” he said.
aIRSTRIKeS In nWa anD
KHYBeR aGenCY: Amidst conflicting reports of casualties in
airstrikes at scattered areas of North
Waziristan, the security formally embarked on military action against militants in the early hours of Thursday.
Sources said that after being
convinced by the top military leadership, Prime Minister Sharif gave a
go ahead for the airstrikes in North
Waziristan and Khyber agencies that
killed at least 40 suspected militants.
They said that high-level civil
military consultations continued for
three days which culminated on these
strikes. Army chief General Raheel
Sharif and intelligence heads briefed
the prime minister over rapid devel-

If they kill us, we’ll have
to kill them too: Rashid
ISLAMABAD: “If they (Taliban) strike once, we’ll strike twice,” said
Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National
Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid in a statement on Thursday. The
senator said that the process of dialogue and terrorism could not
go hand-in-hand. He said that the doors were open for those who
believed in peace and dialogue and shunned the path of violence.
Those Taliban groups, who were willing for dialogue, should isolate
themselves from those involved in terrorist activities and violence,
the minister emphasised. The minister that they (Taliban) would be
paid back in their own coin, adding that security forces had every
right to defend themselves and mightily respond to terrorists, who
were slitting the throats of their soldiers. He further said that
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also directed the security forces
to give a befitting reply in their defence to the terrorists. APP

opments in the tribal areas and also
shared images of militant hideouts
procured through their own spy
drones. Authorisation of the premier
was sought for more strikes at other
locations, which according to the
sources has been granted. on the first
day of targeted actions, the security
forces with help of jet fighters
bombed suspected hideouts in different places of both North Waziristan
and Khyber Agency. The military action was initiated in reaction to execution of 23 Frontier Corps personnel
who had been in custody of militants
since June 2010. Though the government claims killing of around 40 militants, including foreigners, in the
airstrikes in North Waziristan, local
tribesmen both in Miranshah and Mi-

MOHMAND TALIBAN
CHIEF KHORASANI
SAYS ‘EVERY ACTION
HAS A REACTION’

rali narrated another story. While officials say that at least six compounds
of militants were bombed and 40 militants were killed in Assokhel,
Khushhali Torikhel and Haiderkhel
of Mirali region, tribesmen told Pakistan Today that besides three areas of
Mirali, suspected hideouts of militants were also targeted in the Shawal
mountainous region. According to officials, the first attack was made
against militants’ compounds in Mirali whereas hideouts of Uzbeks,
Turkmens and other foreigners were
bombed in the second strike. The officials also confirmed destroying
compounds of banned Taliban commander Abdul Razzaq near Mirali.
However, tribesmen in Mirali and
Miranshah claim that most of strikes

LAHORE: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has granted the
authority to decide on ceasefire to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami
(JUI-S) chief Maulana Samiul Haq. JUI-S Information Secretary
Makhdom Muhammad Asim said Taliban had given authority to Haq
to announce ceasefire. If an accord is reached with the
government, Haq will announce ceasefire, added the JUI-S leader.
On the other side, Taliban committee member Prof Ibrahim has
confirmed that Taliban had authorised Haq to announce ceasefire
on their behalf. Prof Ibrahim cited Taliban as saying that ceasefire
should be declared simultaneously from both sides. Taliban also
demanded that its men should not be killed in custody and their
arrests be stopped forthwith. JUI-S leader said government had
first demanded from the Taliban to announce ceasefire from their
side. He said talks with Taliban should continue. He said Friday will
be observed as ‘Day of Prayers’ in a hope to restore peace in the
country. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif played his best role in
peace talks. The TTP had offered on February 19 to observe a
ceasefire to allow the resumption of stalled peace talks, provided
security forces stop killing and arresting its members. The offer
came a day after a four-member government negotiating committee
suspended dialogue following a weekend claim by the TTP
Mohmand chapter that it has executed 23 kidnapped paramilitary
Frontier Corps (FC) troops. The government negotiators had set a
ceasefire as a precondition for another round of talks. STAFF REPORT

focused on unpopulated and mountainous regions. one tribal source said
that five militants were killed and
three others injured in airstrikes in
Shawal. They said that no casualty
was reported from Hassokhel,
Haiderkhel and Khushhali Torikhel
areas of Mirali regions. In Bara region
of Khyber Agency adjacent to Peshawar, the security forces bombed
dens of militants associated with the
banned Lashkar-e-Islam at Sepah and
Aka Khel. Three alleged militants
were killed and four others were in-

jured in the attack. The officials also
claimed destroying a depot of explosives in airstrikes. An official claimed
that the forces had targeted hideouts
of militants involved in the attack on
Army Major Jehanzeb and bomb attacks on a cinema house in Peshawar.
JUST In SeLF DeFenCe:
Commenting on the military’s surgical strikes, the interior minister said
that no operation had been conducted
in FATA since September last year
and the current strikes were being
undertaken by the security forces in

Pakistan protests FC soldiers’
killing in Afghanistan
FO SPOKESWOMAN SAYS AFGHAN GOVT PAKISTAN IS NOT SENDING SOLDIERS
HAD AGREED NOT TO LET ITS SOIL USED TO SAUDI ARABIA NOR DOES IT HAVE
FOR TERRORISM AGAINST PAKISTAN
ANY DEAL WITH ANYONE RELATED TO IT
ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT

Pakistan Thursday conveyed its
strong protest and serious concern to
the Afghanistan government on what
the country claimed brutal murder of
its 23 paramilitary personnel inside
the Afghan territory.
The protest was recorded by Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs
Sartaj Aziz to Afghanistan’s Foreign
Minister Zarar Maqbool osmani in

Male, Maldives where the both
diplomats were attending the
SAARC Ministerial Meeting.
Foreign office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said in a statement the
adviser reminded the Afghan foreign
minister that in the Trilateral Summit
in Ankara recently, it was agreed that
both sides would not only prevent the
use of their territory against each
other but also take action against militants engaged in hostile action.
Aziz urged the Afghan government to take prompt action to appre-

hend and punish the perpetrators of
the “heinous and inhumane crime.”
The Afghan foreign minister
promised to convey the message of
concern to the relevant authorities in
Afghanistan and revert shortly.
on February 17, a faction of the
Pakistani Taliban said that it executed 23 Frontier Corps (FC) personnel who have been held captive
since 2010. In a written statement
and subsequent video message, the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan’s
Mohmand chapter said that the Pak-

istani soldiers were killed in retaliation for continued security operations against the Islamist extremists.
During the weekly briefing earlier today, Foreign office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said that the
location of FC soldier’s deaths was
being traced, after receiving the
complete information about their
whereabouts they will discuss the
problem with Afghanistan. She also
rejected the reports of sending Pakistani soldiers to Saudi Arabia. The
spokesperson clarified that Pakistan
was not sending the soldiers to Saudi
Arabia nor does it have any deal
with anyone related to it.
Aslam said that the talks between Afghan Taliban and the government of Afghanistan in Dubai
was an internal matter.

“self defence”. Nisar said that the
government initiated dialogue
process with sincerity and asked the
political parties opposing the move
as to why they had failed to launch a
military operation against the militants during their terms in government. Nisar said that the committee
nominated by the government to
hold talks with Taliban representatives had told the prime minister they
couldn’t continue the talks unless the
militants renounced violence.
SeCURInG THe CaPITaL:
Clarifying media reports about security threats to the federal capital, Nisar
said the threat level to Islamabad had
slipped down as compared to previous years. However, he added, “Safe
City Project would be launched in
coming weeks in a bid to protect Islamabad.” The security forces would
be equipped with modern weapons
which are being imported from China,
Nisar said. The minister said he can
say with responsibility that Islamabad
is safe and it is their effort to make the
entire country secure. He said that a
Rapid Response Force has been established in Islamabad and it has been
deployed at the all entry and exit
points of the federal capital.
naCTa: The interior minister
also said that the National Counter
Terrorism Authority (NACTA)
would soon be established after approval of the cabinet and the Rapid
Response Force would be replicated in the provinces. He further
said that targeted operation is in
progress in Karachi and Quetta
against the militants.
TaLIBan ReaCTIOn: Reacting to the airstrikes, chief of the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
Mohmand chapter Umar Khalid
Khorasani said that every action
has a reaction, referring to the aerial
bombings. He also stated that the
use of force cannot stop them and
they are not afraid of any power,
adding that their war is ideological.

CJP takes suo motu
notice of Taliban threat
to Kalash, Ismailis
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on
Thursday took suo motu notice of the Taliban’s warning to
Ismailis and the Kalash tribe of Chitral Valley to convert to
Islam. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on February 2,
released a video announcing an armed jihad against the
Ismaili Muslim sect and Kalash people. They were threatened
to convert to Islam or face death. The CJ also issued
summons to Attorney General Pakistan (AGP) and advocate
general Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (AG KP). The suo motu notice
follows media reports regarding the threatening video. CJ
Jillani remarked that Islam was a religion that preached
peace and tolerance, adding that the threats by TTP to the
groups contravenes with Article 9, 20 and 36 of the
Constitution that ensure the security, freedom of religion and
protection of minorities in Pakistan, respectively. The apex
court said the hearing of the suo motu notice would be held
along with the Peshawar church attack case. The CJ inquired
from the AG the measure that had been taken by authorities
for the protection of these communities after the threats
were issued. The AG KP was directed by the court to collect
the report from district police officer and Chitral commissioner
and submit it in the court on February 24. STAFF REPORT

An alleged suicide bomber blew himself
up in Balochistan’s Sibi town on Thursday, police said whereas two women were
killed in a gunfiring incident in Loralai
area of the province. Unknown militants
also blew up train tracks in Naseerabad
district earlier during the day disrupting
railway traffic between the province and
other parts of the country.
Deputy Superintendent Police Ali
Nawaz said the suicide bomber, who

blew himself up, wanted to enter into the
Sibi festival hall. He said the bomber
missed the target and detonated the explosives away from the main of gate.
A large number of men and women
were present in the festival hall when he
blew himself up. Nawaz said fortunately
all policemen and civilians were safe as
the bomber missed the target. “The
strength of blast blew body pieces of suicide bomber into the air,” he added.
WOmen SHOT DeaD: Two women
were killed and another injured in a firing
incident in Balochistan’s Loralai town.

Muhammad Zafar, a police officer, said
that two armed men on a motorcycle
opened an indiscriminate fire on women in
Loralai bazar. He said two women were
killed on the spot whereas the assailants
drove off the scene after carrying out the attack. The injured woman was rushed to Loralai hospital for treatment.
Locals said that the women night have
been targeted for their alleged involvement
in immoral activities. Security and rescue
teams reached the spot. Shops and markets
in the locality shut down after the incident
as panic prevailed among the people.

CMYK

RaILWaY TRaCKS BLOWn UP:
Railway tracks were damaged as a result of
a powerful explosion in Balochistan’s insurgency-hit Naseerabad district disrupting
the train services between the province and
other parts of the country whereas two
women were shot dead in Loralai area.
Muhammad Hashim, a police official
said that militants had planted explosive
materials close to the railway track in Mangoli area of Naseerabad district. “Explosives were detonated and three feet railway
track was damaged,” he said adding that,
“Loud and powerful explosion was heard

far and wide.” Railway service between
Balochistan and other parts of the country
was suspended as result of powerful blast.
The police official further said there
was no human loss since the explosives
were detonated at a deserted spot aimed at
damaging the railway track only.
Hashim also said the Quetta-bound Jaffar Express coming from Rawilpindi was
stopped at Dera Allah Yar after the blast. He
further said technical staff of railway was
soon called to ensure immediate repair of
railway track. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

04 NEWS

Friday, 21 February, 2014

Ukraine truce shattered,
death toll tops 50
KIEV

F

AGENCIES

RESH fighting broke out in central Kiev on
Thursday, shattering a truce declared by
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, as
the Russian-backed leader met European ministers demanding he compromise with proEU opponents. “Berkut” riot policemen, shown on
television, fired bursts from automatic rifles on the run
as they covered retreating colleagues fleeing past a
nearby arts center. In other video, an opposition militant in a helmet fired from behind a tree.
Other protesters used police riot shields for cover,

while some fell wounded as the protest camp became
a killing zone. The foreign ministers of Germany,
France and Poland were to report back in Brussels later
in the day to EU colleagues, who will decide on possible targeted sanctions against those deemed responsible for the worst bloodshed in Ukraine’s 22 years of
independence since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia criticized the European and U.S. measures,
calling them “blackmail” that would only make matters worse. It also stepped up pressure on Yanukovich
to crack down and restore order if he wanted more,
desperately needed, loans - the Russian prime minister
said it would not hand over cash to a leadership that
let opponents walk over it “like a doormat”.

Visa issue resolved, says
Shahzaib Bajwa’s brother
WASHINGTON: The visa issue of Pakistani exchange
student Muhammad Shahzaib Bajwa has been resolved,
according to his brother on Thursday.
His brother, Shahraiz Bajwa, also said that the
insurance company will pay the medical bills and
Shahzaib will be treated in the US.
Shahraiz stated that Shahzaib’s health has improved
and he is showing signs of recovery.
Shahzaib, 20, was spending a semester in an exchange
programme at the University of Wisconsin-Superior,
studying anthropology and sociology.
On November 13, 2013, he and his friends were driving
back to the university from Minneapolis when their car
struck a deer, his brother Shahraiz had said.
What was meant to be an academic semester abroad
through a State Department-backed exchange
programme has turned into a complex journey through
US insurance, medical and visa regulations for the
family from Faisalabad.
The brother had earlier said that the insurance company
was pressing the family to sign off on returning
Shahzaib to Pakistan once his visa runs out at the end
of the month, threatening not to pay evacuation costs if
the family refuses. “My mother is not going to sign
because that would be like killing her son with her own
hand,” the brother had stated. AGENCIES

A Ukrainian presidential statement said dozens of
police were wounded or killed during an opposition
offensive hours after Yanukovich and opposition leaders had agreed on a truce. Witnesses said they saw
snipers firing during the clashes. The Health Ministry
said two police were among Thursday’s dead. That
raised the total death toll since Tuesday to at least 51,
including at least 12 police. Local media said more
than 30 protesters were killed in Thursday’s flare-up.
The country is the object of a geopolitical tug-ofwar between Moscow - which sees it as a market and
a cultural ally and also fears protests spreading to Russia - and the West, which says Ukrainians should be
free to choose economic rapprochement with the EU.

India’s Supreme Court on Thursday stopped the
release of seven people convicted in the assassination of former premier Rajiv Gandhi.
The apex court had on Tuesday commuted the
death sentences of three of the convicts, citing inordinate delays by the federal authorities in acting
on their mercy plea. After the decision, the Tamil
Nadu government announced it was setting free
all seven convicts. Gandhi was killed by the Sri
Lankan Tamil guerrillas on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur after a suicide bomber set off explosives
strapped around her body. “We are concerned with
the procedural lapses and we will examine it,”
Chief Justice P Sathasivam said while hearing a
plea filed by the federal government. The court has
restrained Tamil Nadu government from taking
any further steps and gave March 6 as the date for
the next hearing on the case. The politically-

loaded decision of the Tamil Nadu government,
headed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo J. Jayalalithaa,
sparked a storm in the country as it meant
Gandhi’s killers would soon walk free.
Jayalalithaa’s government had given three
days, starting Wednesday, to the federal government to give their view before letting all seven
walk free. The decision appeared aimed at pleasing the state’s voters, who sympathise with fellow
Tamils living across the Palk Strait in Sri Lanka,
with general elections due in April-May this year.
However, the announcement caused a national
outcry, with the federal government knocking on
the doors of the apex court and calling it a blatant
violation of law. While Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh described it as an attack on the soul of India,
a senior leader of the main opposition Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), Arun Jaitley, criticised institutional compassion for Gandhi’s killers.
“The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was an attack on the soul of India. Release of the killers of
a former PM of India, our great leader, and other
innocent Indians, would be contrary to all principles of justice. No government or party should be
soft in our fight against terrorism,” Premier Singh
said in a statement issued by his office.

Attack by Islamists in
north-east Nigeria kills 60

US warns airlines about possible shoe bombs

KANO: An attack by scores of Boko Haram Islamists in
the north-east Nigeria town of Bama has killed 60
people and caused massive destruction to public
buildings, police told AFP on Thursday.
Residents said gunmen stormed the town at roughly
4am (10am, Singapore time) on Wednesday, armed
with heavy weapons and tossed explosives into various
buildings, forcing residents to flee into the surrounding
bush. “We are collating the figures and the death toll
has risen to 60 from the Bama attack,” said Mr Lawal
Tanko, the police commissioner in Borno state, which is
the epicentre of Boko Haram’s four-and-half-year
Islamist uprising.
“The toll is likely to rise,” he said. “The attackers caused
enormous destruction. They burnt down some of the
major landmarks in the town including the local
government secretariat,” and the palace of the area’s
top cleric, Tanko added. AGENCIES

The US Department of Homeland Security has
warned airlines that terrorists could try to hide explosives in shoes. It’s the second time in less than
three weeks that the government has issued a
warning about possible attempts to smuggle explosives on a commercial jetliner.
Homeland Security said Wednesday it regularly shares relevant information with domestic
and international partners, but it declined to discuss specifics of a warning sent to airlines.
“Our security apparatus includes a number of
measures, both seen and unseen, informed by the
latest intelligence and as always DHS continues
to adjust security measures to fit an ever evolving
threat environment,’’ the department said in a
statement. A US intelligence official told The Associated Press that DHS released a notice to airlines reiterating that liquids, shoes and certain

The possible withdrawal of all US forces
from Afghanistan would hamper manhunts for Al Qaeda militants in neighbouring Pakistan, forcing Washington to find
alternative bases for its drone flights, officials and experts say.
The CIA’s drone war against Al Qaeda
in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt relies
heavily on intelligence gathered by spies
based in eastern Afghanistan and on the use
of Jalalabad and other air bases in the area.
But without US troops to guard CIA
outposts and air fields, intelligence officers would not be able to meet sources on
the ground in eastern Afghanistan, and
Reaper aircraft would have to take off
from more distant locations, undermining
the tracking and targeting of terror suspects across the border in Pakistan.
With Afghan President Hamid Karzai

refusing to sign a bilateral security accord
that would allow US troops to stay in the
country beyond 2014, officials are looking
at the possibility of flying drones out of
Central Asian countries if American forces
are forced to exit.
“The government is just starting to
think about this and planning for it,” said a
senior US defence official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity. “If you still want
to put pressure on that region, you have to
look at alternatives,” the official said,
adding that “none of the options are ideal.”
President Barack Obama’s administration has viewed the drone strikes as a crucial tactic that has weakened the core
leadership of al Qaeda in Pakistan, despite
intense criticism from human rights groups
and some foreign governments. And Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has acknowledged the administration is looking at
gaining access to other bases if the security
pact falls through with Kabul.

cosmetics were of concern, all of which are covered under existing Transportation Security Administration security policies. The latest warning
was focused on flights headed to the United States
from abroad. The official said “something caused
DHS concern, but it’s a very low threshold to trigger a warning like this.’’ The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security
warned airlines with flights to Russia to be on the
lookout for explosive devices possibly hidden inside toothpaste. The Transportation Security Administration then banned passengers from
bringing any liquids in their carry-on luggage on
nonstop flights from the US to Russia. That warning became public just days before the opening
ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
It is unclear if the latest warning, first reported
Wednesday by NBC News, is related to the earlier
threats to Russia-bound flights.

Guard dies
preventing suicide
bombing in Kabul
KABUL: A bomber killed a guard in a suicide
attack after a failed attempt to target a guest
house used by foreigners in the Afghan capital
Kabul on Thursday, police said. The attacker
on foot was prevented from entering the
guest house, leading him to target a cultural
centre next door, said police spokesman
Hashmat Stanakzai. “The attacker was
stopped by a guard at the entrance (of the
cultural centre), but he set off his explosives,
killing the guard and wounding four civilians,”
he told AFP. Body parts of the bomber could
be seen at the scene of the attack as police
cordoned off the area, witnesses said. No one
has claimed responsibility but in the past such
strikes have been claimed by the Taliban. The
attack is the latest in a series in the city. Last
week two civilian contractors working for the
NATO force in Afghanistan were killed in a car
bomb attack claimed by the Taliban in the
capital. An attack on a Lebanese restaurant
on January 17th killed 21 people including 13
foreigners. AGENCIES

Afghan Taliban
confirm Dadullah’s
release
PESHAWAR: While confirming the release of
Mansoor Dadullah, the Afghan Taliban on
Thursday urged Pakistan to release more
members imprisoned in different jails. A
Taliban spokesman said that Dadullah was
still under treatment. During imprisonment
he became a kidney patient and is being
treated somewhere in Pakistan. He
demanded the immediate release of Afghan
Taliban members imprisoned in Pakistan. In
December 2013, Pakistan announced to
release several Afghan Taliban leaders,
including Mansoor Dadullah. SHAMIM SHAHID

Al Jazeera journalists
on trial in Cairo
CAIRO: Al Jazeera journalists are due to
appear in a Cairo prison court Thursday,
charged along with 17 other defendants of
having links to a terrorist organization and of
spreading “false news.” Journalists Peter
Greste, Mohammed Fahmy and Baher
Mohammed have been in detention for more
than 50 days. The Egyptian government has
accused them of having ties to the Muslim
Brotherhood, which was declared a terrorist
organization in December. The trial of
journalists for the Qatar-based channel comes
against the backdrop of strained relations
between Cairo and Doha, which is a backer of
Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, ousted by
the army in July, and of his Muslim
Brotherhood. Prosecutors allege that the
defendants, including award-winning
Australian Peter Greste and EgyptianCanadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, manipulated
footage and supported the Brotherhood,
which was banned after Morsi was deposed.
In all, 20 “Al Jazeera journalists” are on trial,
but only eight of them are in custody. ONLINE

Malko Jama, a recently widowed Somali
mother of eight, still remembers undergoing genital mutilation three decades
ago as vividly as if it were yesterday.
“I was nine. A woman came to the
house. They held me down and held my
legs apart and she cut me with a razor
and stitched me back up with acacia
thorns,” Jama, 40, explains as she sits on
the concrete floor of a neighbour’s
house in Hargeisa. She recounts, “Now
they have a more modern way for stitching girls back up but at the time they
used thorns like pins.” Jama is one of
countless women in the Horn of Africa
region to have undergone female genital
mutilation, a ritual and surgical procedure carried out without anaesthetic and
designed to keep women pure.
“She cut out the clitoris and the inner
labia and then she cut out the flesh from
the outer labia and sewed up the skin that
was left,” Jama said as her neighbour’s

CMYK

baby slept on a blanket on the floor. “When
it was finished they took a big sheet and a
cord and they bound my thighs together...
so that I had to stay there with my legs together. They brought me small pieces of
bread but refused to allow me water or tea.
They said the body had to dry out.”
In too much pain to move and tied
up, for the first four days Jama had to urinate where she was sitting. “After seven
days they removed the sheet and the cutter came to inspect me. She said I was
completely closed up,” recalled Jama,
who is now also a grandmother of three.
“I later realised how lucky I had been
because girls considered not to have
closed up completely get some more flesh
cut out and they get sewn up again,” she
said, her face framed in a patterned veil.
Vaginal inspection
“As I grew up my periods weren’t
coming properly and I had constant abdominal pain and back pain. When I used
to tell my mother she would say: ‘Take
these tablets. It’s normal. When you get
married everything will be ok,’.”

Jama said she was 15 when she got
married and 17 when she gave birth to her
first child, even though sex did not involve
full penetration — as her vagina was so
tightly stitched up. “When they took me to
my husband’s house the first thing my
mother-in-law did was to open my legs
and inspect me. My husband’s family
wanted to start boiling scissors and cut me
open because I was his bride,” she said.
Her own family argued that another
operation could harm the baby, so the two
families eventually agreed she should not
be opened up whilst still pregnant. “After
two months of trying to penetrate me
without succeeding my husband went into
a depression,” Jama said of her marriage.
She described her own lack of desire
matter-of-factly: “Even in the first year of
your marriage you’re not really interested
in sex. There is a sensation but nothing
very much,” she shrugged. Childbirth
brought additional complications and entailed three cuts — the undoing of the existing stitches and a slit on either side of
the vagina, again without any painkillers.

NEWS 05

Friday, 21 February, 2014

DEEPENING TIES BETWEEN PAKISTAN, CHINA TO
BRING PROSPERITY TO THE REGION: MAMNOON
PRESIDENT EMPHASISES
NEED FOR MORE
CONCERTED EFFORTS FOR
EARLY IMPLEMENTATION
OF MUTUALLY
AGREED PROJECTS
ASSURES SECURITY FOR
CHINESE NATIONALS
WORKING IN PAKISTAN
BEIJING

P

APP

RESIDENT Mamnoon Hussain
on Thursday said the deepening
multifaceted strategic partnership
between Pakistan and China heralds a new era of socio-economic
progress and prosperity for the people of
the two countries and entire region.
The president also emphasised the need
for more concerted and consistent efforts
on both side for early implementation of the
mutually agreed projects.
He said that enhanced connectivity between China and Pakistan was of great importance to expand economic and trade
cooperation, promoting economic integration, and fostering economic development
of the two countries.
This was stated by the president during
his meeting with Premier Li Keqiang here
at the Great Hall of Peoples, the press sec-

Supreme Court (SC) Justice Saqib Nisar
on Thursday said the government is not
discharging its obligations in missing
persons’ case.
A two-member bench of the SC took up
for hearing missing persons’ case of
Mansoor Mehdi and Dr Abid Sharif. He
also remarked, “Intelligence agencies
don’t even bother to try for their
exoneration from the investigation and
they merely write to us that this man is
not in their custody.”
He observed, “Protecting the citizens is
responsibility of the state. If the
institutions don’t get recover the missing
persons despite having resources then it is
their criminal negligence which cannot be
overlooked.”
He said, “Nine years have been elapsed
and it is not known to any institution,
including police that who picked up these
persons and why and where they are now.
As to why the government and
intelligence agencies don’t make their
position clear. If they were opposed to US
or were Jihadi or they had enmity with
someone then there would be some
reasons behind their disappearance.”
He observed that what has been written
in Pervez Musharraf’s book about
selling of missing persons to US may be
merely a presumption and facts could be
different from that.
Justice Ejaz Afzal said, “Intelligence
agencies have always refused first of all
in respect of missing persons but when
the court insisted on their production
then the missing persons were found in
their custody.”
Additional Attorney General Tariq
Khokhar, Amna Masood Janjua and
Punjab law officer Razzaq A Mirza
appeared in the court.

retary to the president was quoted as saying
in a statement issued on Thursday.
The two leaders held wide ranging discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Welcoming the Pakistani president on
his first state visit to China since assuming
office, Premier Li said that Pakistan was an
important country in the region and it has
made significant contributions to peace,
stability and development of the region and
the world at large, adding that China highly
values its time-tested ties with Pakistan.
Mamnoon said that Pakistan-China allweather friendship was solidly anchored on
convergence of strategic interests, high degree of mutual trust and were driven by an
abiding interest in development and prosperity of each other as well as promotion of
peace and stability in the region.
Recalling his visit to Pakistan last year,
Premier Li said that China was committed to
consolidate its traditional friendship with
Pakistan and deepen the strategic cooperation
between the two countries, adding that China
will continue to firmly support Pakistan in its
efforts to uphold independence, sovereignty
and territorial integrity and achieving national stability and development.
The two leaders expressed satisfaction
at the development of China-Pakistan relations and agreed that the relationship had
outgrown its bilateral dimension to acquire
regional and global significance.
The two sides agreed that, as allweather strategic and cooperative partners,
China and Pakistan would jointly strive for
more friendly political relations, stronger
economic bonds, deeper security cooperation and closer people-to-people contacts.
The two leaders called for joint efforts
to translate the high level of mutual trust

and cooperation that exists at the political
plane into practical cooperation that was result-oriented and deliver prosperity to the
people of both countries.
EConoMiC CoRRiDoR: Commenting
on Economic Corridor, the two leaders
urged collective efforts on both side to ensure that the China-Pakistan Economic

Corridor starts to take practical shape soon
and yields tangible benefits.
Highlighting investment opportunities
in Pakistan, the President said that Pakistan
offers huge potential for trade and investment in diverse areas especially energy and
infrastructure and invited Chinese investors
to invest in these sectors and avail the in-

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif
and his delegation met heads of different
energy companies, financial institutions,
development agencies and banks in Beijing on the third day of his visit to China
and discussed various proposals for investment in coal, solar and hydle power
projects in Punjab.
The chief minister informed Chinese investors that solar power plant in
south Punjab will start operating by the
end of the current year. He said that in
order to facilitate investors, Punjab government will initially make investment

in various energy projects. He said that
there is a vast scope of setting up power
plants operated with hydle, solar, wind
and coal-fired energy and Punjab government is offering the best rate of
profit to investors. He said that the projects to be started with Chinese cooperation will be executed with the same
speed at which Metro Bus Project was
completed in Lahore.
Meanwhile, talking to media, the
chief minister said that the agreement
reached between China and Pakistan the
other day in Beijing is of historic signif-

icance. He said that under the agreement
China will make investment of billions
of rupees in Pakistan and it will be the
heaviest Chinese investment in Pakistan
in the history of the country. He said that
China has promised to invest 20 billion
dollars in energy sector only to rid the
people of Pakistan from load-shedding.
shahBaZ MEEts ChinEsE PREMiER: Later, the chief minister attended
a reception hosted by the Chinese prime
minister.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief
minister expressed gratitude to the Chinese prime minister for announcing to
cooperate in the construction of motorway from Lahore to Multan. The Punjab
chief minister’s visit has been greatly
helpful in removing reservations of Chinese authorities and investors created
during the tenure of the former government. The CM also informed the Chinese
leadership and investors about the efforts
made by the federal and provincial governments since coming into power for increasing electricity production.

The alleged perpetrators of the Shama Cinema blasts had taped
hand grenades to their thighs before entering the cinema, SSP
Peshawar Najeebullah said on Thursday.
According to the SSP, one of the suspects is 15, while the
other one is aged between 18 to 19 years of age.
The suspects paid for their tickets and took up seats at the
back of the main hall of the cinema. There were nearly 60 people were watching a film at the time. Half an hour into the film,
the suspects took out the grenades, removed their pins, and
threw them towards the people sitting in front, the SSP said.
The police managed to apprehend one of the suspects,
Hasan alias Israr, who was injured in the explosion and had

been under medical treatment since the attack.
Hasan hails from Bara Qambar Khel in Khyber Agency
and this was allegedly his first involvement in such an activity.
On February 11, three explosions occurred inside the Shama
Cinema in Peshawar at 3:40pm killing 13 people and injuring
dozens. Security forces and the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS)
reached the scene shortly after the incident. Rescue teams
reached the location and the injured were taken to Lady Reading Hospital.
It was the second attack on a cinema house in Peshawar
this month. According to officials of the Bomb Disposal Unit
(BDU) three Chinese hand grenades were used in the attack.
After a similar attack at Picture House Cinema in Peshawar
on February 3, law enforcement agencies had assessed security
of cinema houses in the city and put out an advisory.

CMYK

centives, being offered by the government
for investment in Pakistan.
He assured that Chinese nationals,
working in Pakistan, were an asset and all
out steps were being taken for their safety
and protection, adding that the government
has upgraded security of the project sites
where Chinese nationals were working.

INDIA AND PAKISTAN
IMPORTANT ALLIES IN
AFGHANISTAN: USA
Washington: The United States has
said that India and Pakistan are important
allies in its endeavour to bring peace and
stability in Afghanistan. “We appreciate
Pakistan's efforts to further Afghan-led
reconciliation. Pakistan is obviously an
important partner in supporting a secure
and stable Afghanistan, which is vital to
the security of the region,” State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf
told reporters. “But I would say the same
thing about India that India is also an important partner in supporting a stable and
secure region, including in Afghanistan,”
Ms Harf said. She said that the USA
would continue to work with the two
South Asian neighbours on security issues
in Afghanistan, particularly going longer
into 2014. Asked about the security situation in Pakistan and the terrorist threat
there, Harf said both the USA and the
Pakistan governments are concerned
about it. “Because its citizens, in fact,
have been affected by it more than anyone. We have a constant dialogue with the
Pakistani government on counter-terrorism efforts and building their capacity to
fight this threat,” she said. ONLINE

EIGHT KILLED IN
BALOCHISTAN AFTER
ARMED CLASH
QUEtta: Eight people were killed and two
others were injured on Thursday in an armed
clash between two armed groups in
Balochistan's Kharan district, a security
official said. The official, who requested not
to be named, said that the two armed groups
clashed in Baseema checkpost area of
Kharan. He said seven men belonging to one
group were killed, while one person from the
other group died during the exchange of fire.
"Both sides used heavy weapons," he said.
Panic prevailed among the people of the area
in the aftermath of the clash, he said. The
official stated that law enforcers were being
dispatched into the area to bring the situation
under control. STAFF REPORT

06 LAHORE

WEATHER UPDATES

TUESDAY

190C 110C

WEDNESDAY

180C 100C

THURSDAY

180C 110C

FRIDAY

170C 090C

Friday, 21 February, 2014

Prayer Timings
FAJR
5:31

SUNRISE ZUHR
6:53

12:17

ASR
3:18

MAGHRIB ISHA
5:40

7:03

About to bloom: PHA workers carry huge flower models for displaying at Jillani Park in connection with Spring Festival. Online

For a safe journey
SAAD RAFIQUE SEEKS
SUPPORT FROM
PROVINCIAL GOVTS
FOR SECURITY

PR administration was working for the
installation of the latest signal system.
He said it was his task to post honest and dedicated officers in the department and now it was a
responsibility of these officers to work

hard for the betterment of the PR.
saad said no new appointment had
been made, however, a summary for
the employment of a special force in
the PR police to combat terrorism had
been sent to the prime minister office

Lahore

P

aPP

akisTan Railways (PR)
Minister khawaja saad
Rafique has sought support
from the provincial governments for security of PR assets, including tracks and trains.
Talking to the journalists after presiding over a meeting of train staff at
PR Headquarters on Thursday, he said
almost all terrorists involved in blasts
at tracks and trains had been arrested.
He said the PR was facing a shortage of funds and resources but it was
working on self-reliance which would
not be a burden on the government.
To a question, the minister said the

for approval.
Earlier, while addressing the
meeting of train staff, he said it was a
responsibility of police to ensure respect of passengers, adding police
would take action against any passenger if found guilty.
The minister ordered strict action
against any person, including government officer, failing to provide identity card on demand.
He directed all divisional officers
to meet even a cleaner or a train manager to resolve issue. He said the PR
police were being equipped with the
latest weapons and directed the police
to focus on terrorists instead of addicts.
The minister said salaries of the
PR policemen were less than the
provincial police, however, a summary had been sent to the prime minister for raising the police staff
salaries.
PR General Manager Operations
anjum Pervaiz, additional GM Traffic Javed anwar Boobak and other
were also present.

Meera in the
dock over
‘love affair’
Meera, Captain Naveed
summoned on Feb 26
lAHoRE: The Lahore Session Court on Thursday
summoned Pakistani actress Meera and her
husband Captain Naveed on February 26, 2014 in
the controversial video case. The actress, her
husband and the SHO did not appear before the
court. As per details, a plea has been submitted in
the court that the actress undermined the Islamic
values through her video. Petitioner Muhammad
Shabir on January 29 submitted the petition in the
court in which he demanded the court to summon
the actress and asked her regarding the video
scandal. It is to be mentioned here that the video
sparked huge controversy when it was released on
internet last month. Online

This survey is nothing more than a joke

Another day,
another
acid attack

He said according to the ground realities that
the govt performance on these issues worsened
with every passing day.
This was the only govt in the history of Pakistan which in its first nine months in power established the record of securing maximum domestic
and external debt, got currency notes worth Rs 24
crore printed every hour and pushed the people in
the sea of unemployment and dearness, he added.
Continuing, the PML spokesman stated that even
on the front of the good governance the failures of
the present govt were well-known, in the appointment of the chief election commissioner, holding of
local bodies polls and removal of officials the courts
orders were shattered into pieces.

lAHoRE: The Lahore High Court Complaint Cell
Thursday took notice of an acid attack by a man
on his two step-daughters. The cell directed the
Kasur District and Sessions judge to look into the
matter and submit a detailed report within a week.
The notice was taken on a press report which
stated that the accused, Aslam of New Abadi
Pattoki, wanted to marry her step daughter Javaria
with a dumb and deaf man, Imran, but the girl
rejected the proposal. To which, the accused threw
acid on Javaria when she was asleep with her 10year-old sister Malika. The police have registered a
case against Aslam and his former wife Kulsoom
Bibi on the report of Arshad Bibi, the mother of
victims. Police later arrested the accused while
raids were on for the arrest of his former wife. aPP

The Gallup survey regarding the govt performance
merely ‘gup survey’, in nine months the federal government was not able to make headway on any national, people’s problem, said Pakistan Muslim

League (PML) spokesman on Thursday.
The PML spokesman said that if there was any
reduction in load shedding, price hike of essential
and other articles and terrorism, obstacles in the
quick and cheap dispensation of justice were removed, volume of foreign debt was cut, there was no
increase in the prices of electricity, gas and petroleum products then the people would surely have believed the claims about improvement.

iRsTRikEs in
north Waziristan
should be stopped
immediately, said
Jamaat-e-islami
chief syed Munawar Hassan while talking to journalist on Thursday.

Munawaz Hassan stated
that government should formally announce its decision
if it has planned an operation
against the Taliban. He said
that the government committee should not have refused to hold dialogue. He
said that efforts should be
made for success of the
peace talks. The government

Preparations in full swing for
attempting two Guinness records
Lahore
aPP

The preparations for the attempt to make two Guinness
World Records under the banner of the Punjab Youth Festival (PYF) 2014 on Thursday
reached the climax in the
provincial metropolitan.
The enthusiastic Punjab
Youth is quite excited to attempt the making of two mega
world records at the Historic
Punjab University grounds. On
February 24, 2014 over
175,000 individuals will attempt to break the record of
most people singing national
anthem currently owned by
india with 121,653 people.
in another attempt, the Pakistani people will try to notch
up the feat of most people waving national Flags on the same
day and venue.
There is great enthusiasm
among people from all walks of
life across the province and
they are waiting for the grand
event impatiently. The heads of
all the leading educational institutions of the province are passionate to ensure the maximum

participation of students in this
great national activity.
Provincial Minister for
sports and Education Rana
Mashhood ahmad khan is
quite upbeat about the two upcoming mega events. He said
that keenness, courage and determination shown by the students in the bid of making
Largest national Flag World
Record event was very rare in
the history. “With the grace of
allah almighty, we will be able
to achieve the target of 100
world records this year,” he expressed his anticipation.
Minister informed that he
received several congratulatory
telephone calls after Pakistan
made the Guinness World
Record of Largest Human Flag.
“all the heads of the top
schools, colleges and universities of the province have enthusiastically promised in a
meeting to bring their students
to the maximum in the upcoming grand events,” he resolved.
The minister said that vision of Punjab Chief Minister
shahbaz sharif has put a new
hope of life among the youngsters of the province.

should not approve military
action even if peace talks
fail, he added. He said that
india is destabilising Pakistan by sitting in Balochistan and some other parts of
the country, adding that
india is providing weapons
for militancy. He said that
why has not the government
taken notice of this issue.

It’s a sad day,
we wont work
Lawyers boycott court proceedings
against Johar Town incident
lAHoRE: The lawyers community on Thursday
partially boycotted court proceedings to protest against
murder of eight members of a family in Johar Town.
The strike call was given by the Punjab Bar Council and
the lawyers boycotted proceedings at sessions courts,
civil courts and cantt courts. However, the court work
continued as per routine at the Lahore High Court
and lawyers appeared in cases before courts. aPP

Dismissed ASI arrested
lAHoRE: CIA City police have arrested a
dismissed ASI Saqib Meraj allegedly involved in
blackmailing women. Police on a complaint of a
citizen, Munawar, conducted a raid and arrested
the accused. During interrogations, the accused
confessed that he was dismissed over corruption
from the Police department. aPP

REST IN PEACE!
Father of former federal minister for finance Dr
Salman Shah passed away on Thursday. His funeral
ceremony will be held at the main mosque of DHA
at 2pm today. Females have to gather at 52B,
Street 2, Phase 5, DHA. Prayers for the departed
soul will be held between Asr and Maghrib prayers.

IUB celebrates first anniversary
Lahore
Press release

imperial University on Bahriachowk
was dazzling, melodious, and joyful

on Tuesday celebrating first anniversary of school of architecture, art and
Design. Formally dressed Pakistani
and international students, parents,
guests, and faculty coloured the spa-

cious campus. school of Engineering
and Technology, school of Computing
and information sciences, and school
of Business and Management sciences
of the university put up stalls highlighting research projects and latest
laboratory equipment. artwork of students of architecture, art and Design
(saaD) was put up in studios, which
was appreciated by the visitors as a
display of learning process. The space
was full to capacity with artistic stalls
of crafts of Pakistan. Chief guest Lahore Chamber of Commerce and industries President Engineer sohail
Lashari opened first art exhibition in
newly finished gallery of the university. The exhibition contained work of
the saaD teachers, along with paintings of national artists. students of the
saaD presented mimes and sufiana
kalaam and international students performed cultural dances that were
warmly applauded by the audience.

Confused nation is a major threat to national solidarity
ZAFAR SAYS IDENTITY CRISIS IN
PAKISTAN MAJOR THREAT TO
NATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Lahore
inP

Erosion of statehood and weakening of national solidarity
is the most serious challenges being faced by the country
today, these views were expressed at a seminar on the
‘Challenges Faced by Pakistan’, organised by Punjab University’s Pakistan study Centre.
senator s M Zafar, Justice (R) Mian Mahboob ahmad, Lt
Gen (R) naseer akhtar, PU Faculty of arts and Humanities
Dean Professor Dr Massarrat abid, advisor to Vice Chancellor
Col (R) ikramullah khan addressed the ceremony while a
large number of students were present on the occasion.
Lamenting the absence of truth from the society, senator s M
Zafar further declared the identity crisis in Pakistan as a major

threat to national solidarity and emphasised Pakistanis to flourish national unity and take pride in their identity as one nation.
speaking on the challenges confronted by Pakistan today,
Dr Massarrat abid said that Quaid-i-azam wanted to build
Pakistan as a strong and stable country. she said that Quaidi-azam had defined the role which the bureaucracy, the army,
politicians will play for a strong and democratic Pakistan. she
said the country could not achieve the cherished goal of the
Quaid because these guidelines were ignored. she said the result was the lack of stability, weak institutions and dependence on individuals. Justice (R) Mahboob while delivering
his keynote speech said weakening of statehood is the major
challenge being faced by Pakistan which has resulted in the
decline of state and society. He emphasised on inculcating the
feelings of nationhood and national solidarity as a panacea
for the major threats to the homeland. General (R) naseer
akhtar termed corruption as the toughest challenge. He said
that kashmir and Water Dispute between Pakistan and india
were the major threat to peace making efforts between the
two countries and ill effect of those disputes on the fabric of
society and internal security of Pakistan.

PPP Punjab’s President Mian Manzoor
ahmed Wattoo who presided over the meeting of divisional headquarters, district presidents, secretary generals and the heads of
allied wings of Party here on Thursday decided to ask the office bearers to send nominations from each constituency of national
assembly for the Punjab Council of the
party by the end of this month. it will serve
as the highest consultative body for the party
at the province level.
The council will meet after every three
months for consultative purposes to suggest
the ways and means to make the party reflective of the aspirations of the people. The participants of the meeting highly appreciated

the stand of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on terrorism which represented the sentiments of
the people right across the country who
wanted to get rid of the menace at the earliest
by taking militants on their turf.
The participants assured the party leadership that they would make the forthcoming
visit of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari a big success
being considered as a great breakthrough for
the party in the province of Punjab. The office bearers were also asked to send the
names of those dedicated ex-office bearers
of the PPP and even those who were not now
in the fold of the party, to the secretariat for
arranging their meeting with Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari during his visit to the provincial capital of Punjab.
PPP Punjab’s president, while emphasising the importance of re-organisation of the
party at the union council and ward level
said that it was critical for making the party
as the credible political force of the country
like it was in 1970. it was decided that office
bearers would mount flags atop the buildings
of the party offices, residences and other
places as a part of preparations to welcome
the patron-in chief.

VU aims to be the best in education
DR NAVEED SAYS VIRTUAL
UNIVERSITY AIMS AT
PROVIDING THE BEST
COURSES TO STUDENTS
ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Lahore
Press release

a meeting of student’s society formation was
held under the chairmanship of Virtual University of Pakistan Rector Prof Dr naveed a
Malik. The meeting discussed various concerns

pertaining to the extracurricular activities
among students. He urged all faculty members
to plan extracurricular events in a manner that
all students may participate equally. Dr naveed
a Malik underlined that Virtual University of
Pakistan aims at providing the very best
courses to students across the country.
He was of the view that the high rank of
Virtual University’s OCW web site is the
symbol of its international recognition. Virtual University has published all courses on
its open courseware site, and thereby joined
ranks with the top few universities of the
world. Meeting was attended by Registrar Dr
sadaqat Mehdi, QEC advisor Dr Muhammad nawaz, Dr Qanbar abbasi and other
faculty members.

08 COMMENT
The language
terrorists
understand

Friday, 21 February, 2014

The Libyan bedlam
General Hifter, the CIA and the unfinished coup

Dialogue is not their
course of action

J

eTS pounded six terrorist hideouts
in North Waziristan killing 35,
according to an unofficial tally. IeD
producing factories that have killed and
maimed hundreds of security personnel
and innocent civilians were also
destroyed in the air attacks. Like the
earlier targeted strikes last month, the
attacks followed the killings of security
personnel. This is likely to be interpreted
as a significant shift in military policy
after takeover by the new COAS. A
message has thus been conveyed to the
TTP that attacks on soldiers will
henceforth not go unavenged. The army
has also made it known that it not only
possesses precise information about the
whereabouts of the terrorists’ nests but
also has the capacity to take them out
without suffering casualties.
The much awaited action would
dispel a pall of gloom that had set in due
to the government’s fascination with
unproductive talks. The terrorist outfits
are seen by people as bands of violent
zealots who are out to destroy the state in
pursuit of their madcap agenda. In its
preference for talks, the PML-N
government failed to see what was
visible even to the common man: the
TTP and similar outfits were putting up
demands that negated the ideals of the
country’s founding father and conflicted
with the moderate Islam practised by the
overwhelming majority of Pakistanis.
The idea to convince them through
arguments alone was a non-starter from
day one.
What happened after the APC
resolution, adopted under the pressure of
the PML-N and PTI, was simply
massacre. The statistics given by a
military spokesman are illustrative.
During the period of five months 460
innocent people, including 308 civilians,
114 soldiers and 38 policemen, died in
terrorist acts within the country. The
figure for the injured in these attacks
stood at 1,264, with 684 civilians, 531
military men and 49 policemen.
The TTP and its affiliates have all
along treated the offer of talks as a sign
of weakness. Their being treated as
stakeholders and thus provided
recognition by the state added to their
intransigence. The tendency was further
strengthened by those politicians who
invented lame excuses for every bloody
attack the terrorists conducted. Sometime
it was a drone attack, another time the
presence of US troops in Afghanistan.
The only way to drive sense into the
militant leadership’s head is speaking to
them from a position of strength. The
army has employed a language that they
understand. What is needed now is to
promptly respond to their attacks through
effective military action irrespective of
whether they target security personnel or
common civilians.

N Friday, Feb 14, 92 prisoners escaped from their prison
in the Libyan town of Zliten.
19 of them were eventually
recaptured, two of whom were wounded
in clashes with the guards. It was just another daily episode highlighting the utter
chaos which has engulfed Libya since the
overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Much of this is often reported with
cliché explanations as in the country’s
‘security vacuum’, or Libya’s lack of a
true national identity. Indeed, tribe and
region seem to supersede any other affiliation, but it is hardly that simple.
On that same Friday, Feb 14, Maj.
Gen. Khalifa hifter announced a coup in
Libya. “The national command of the
Libyan Army is declaring a movement
for a new road map” (to rescue the country), hifter declared through a video post.
Oddly enough, little followed by way of
a major military deployment in any part
of the country. The country’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan described the attempted
coup as “ridiculous”.
Others in the military called it a “lie.”
One of those who attended a meeting
with hifter prior to the announcement
told Al Jazeera that they simply attempted
to enforce the national agenda of bringing
order, not staging a coup.
hifter’s efforts were a farce. It generated nothing but more attention to
Libya’s fractious reality, following

Editor’s mail

NATO’s war, branded a humanitarian intervention to prevent imminent massacres
in Benghazi and elsewhere. “Libya is stable,” Zeidan told Reuters. “(The parliament) is doing its work, and so is the
government.”
But Zedian is not correct. his assessment is a clear contradiction to reality,
where hundreds of militias rule the country with an iron fist. In fact, the prime
minister was himself kidnapped by one
militia last October. hours later, he was
released by another militia. Although
both, like the rest of the militias, are operating outside government confines,
many are directly or loosely affiliated
with government officials. In Libya, to
have sway over a militia is to have influence over local, regional or national
agendas. Unfortunate as it may be, this is
the ‘new Libya.’
Some will find most convenient ways
to explain the chaos: ‘east Libya is inherently unruly’, some would say; ‘it took a
strong leader like Gaddafi to maintain the
national cohesion of a country made of
tribes, not citizens,’ others would opine.
But the truth is oftentimes inconvenient
and requires more than mere platitudes.
Libya is in a state of chaos, not because of some intrinsic tendency to shun
order. Libyans, like people all over the
world, seek security and stability in their
lives. however, other parties, Arab and
western, are desperate to ensure that the
‘new Libya’ is consistent with their own
interests, even if such interests are obtained at the expense of millions of people.
The New York Times’ David Kirkpatrick reported on the coup from Cairo.
In his report, “In Libya, a Coup. Or Perhaps Not,” he drew similarities between
Libya and egypt; in the case of egypt, the
military succeeded in consolidating its
powers starting on July 3, whereas in
Libya a strong military institution never
existed in the first place, even during
Gaddafi’s rule. In order for hifter to stage
a coup, he would need to rely on more
than a weak and splintered military.
Nonetheless, it is quite interesting

that the NYT chose to place hifter’s
‘ridiculous’ coup within an egyptian context, while there is a more immediate and
far more relevant context at hand, one of
which the newspaper and its veteran correspondents should know very well. It is
no secret that hifter has had strong backing from the US Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) for nearly three decades.
The man has been branded and rebranded throughout his colorful and
sometimes mysterious history more times
than one can summarize in a single article. he fought as an officer in the Chadian-Libyan conflict, and was captured
alongside his entire unit of 600 men. During his time in prison, Chad experienced
a regime change (both regimes were
backed by French and US intelligence)
and hifter and his men were released per
US request to another African country,
then a third. While some chose to return
home, others knew well what would
await them in Libya, for reasons explained by the Times on May 17, 1991.
“For two years, United States officials have been shopping around for a
home for about 350 Libyan soldiers who
cannot return to their country because
American intelligence officials had mobilized them into a commando force to
overthrow Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the
Libyan leader,” NYT reported. “Now, the
Administration has given up trying to
find another country that will accept the
Libyans and has decided to bring them to
the United States.”
hifter was then relocated to a Virginia suburb in the early 1990’s and settled there. The news is murky about his
exact activities living near Washington
D.C., except for his ties to Libyan opposition forces, which of course, operated
within a US agenda.
In his thorough report, published in
the Business Insider, Russ Baker traced
much of hifter’s activities since his split
from Gaddafi and adoption by the CIA.
“A Congressional Research Service report of December 1996 named hifter as
the head of the NFSL’s military wing, the
Libyan National Army. After he joined

Nuclear power plants
near Karachi
The priorities of our parliamentarians and their
understanding of problems faced by their constituents often
make people wonder whether they all live in the same
province. however, one thing is certain which is that the
welfare of people, and even serious threats to their lives are
of no concern to very many of our parliamentarians.
And the summary dismissal by Peoples Party
parliamentarians of a request by MQM members to discuss
the setting up of additional nuclear power plants dangerously
close to Karachi, a city of nearly twenty million people,
provided a proof about the attitude of our parliamentarians
towards people, if a proof was in fact needed.
According to Frontier Post report of February 15,
Muttahida Qaumi Movement MPAs Syed Khalid Ahmed
and Muhammad Moen Amir Pirzada presented the
adjournment motions, saying that the already inaugurated
nuclear plants being established forty kilometres from
Karachi should be discussed as renowned scientists like Dr
Pervez hoodbhai, Zia Mian and A h Nayar have expressed
severe reservations in a column published in a section of the
press. At this point, parliamentary affairs Minister Dr
Sikandar Mandhro declared the motion to be against rules
and regulations saying if the house started discussing
newspaper columns, it would set a bad precedent. It did not
matter to the Minister that it was not a question of
discussing just any column but a matter that concerned the
lives of nearly twenty million Pakistanis. The Speaker of
the Sindh Assembly went even further and gave his ruling
that being a non-issue, the motion could not be discussed.
As a matter of fact, there should have been no need for
the MQM MPAs to raise this issue in the Sindh Assembly
because being a matter of serious public concern, there
should have been an open public hearing in respect of these
additional nuclear power plants near Karachi. however,
according to a comprehensive report on the issue by Faiza
Ilyas titled ‘Nuclear plant project okayed after secret eIA
hearing’ published in a leading english daily (Dawn, Feb.
3), public hearing was skipped on the request of Pakistan
Atomic energy Commission and a committee of experts,
whose names were not disclosed, constituted by the Sindh
environment Protection Agency conducted the
environmental impact assessment, on the basis of which a
no-objection certificate was issued. According to the report,
a Sepa official claimed that the Pakistan environmental
Protection Act had a provision to skip the public hearing of

an eIA if the case was of ‘national importance’ which
would mean that the lives of twenty million people of
Karachi were not regarded as of ‘national importance’.
With vast potential for solar, wind power and coal-fired
power stations in Sindh, some of which could start producing
electricity much sooner than the atomic power plants, one
fails to understand what was the rush to set up additional
atomic power plants so near the largest city of Pakistan, also
when the worldwide trend is to move away from the nuclear
source for power generation because of its hazardous nature.
We know about the Chernobyl disaster in Russia and also the
recent Fukushima disaster the costs of which are likely to go
up to a few hundred billion dollars apart from other grave
consequences. It beats me as to why a country like ours which
has been unable to handle disasters of much smaller
magnitude, and has considerable difficulty even coping with
heavy rains and medium-level floods, should go for additional
nuclear power generation, especially with a plant of untested
design and so near a big city, the possible mishaps at which it
neither has the technical ability nor the finances to handle.
S R H HASHMI
Karachi

Wrong medicine
I can see many tense faces with a feel of agony on the
threat Pakistan received a few days back from a
neighbouring country that if Pakistan couldn’t recover its
security guards earlier kidnapped by terrorists allegedly
operating from Pakistani soil, then our neighbour reserves
the right to enter into Pakistan and take the appropriate
measures to free its guards. Sure, no issue with protest by
foreign office or anguish on street, no one can object to
the same. But what about the slaughter (literal beheading)
of 23 soldiers of Frontier Constabulary the other day, of
which the responsibility has been proudly claimed by no
one else but Taliban with whom the government has been
pleading to declare a ceasefire. Shame doesn’t end at the
slaughter of these soldiers, but the main issue is more
troublesome — these soldiers were kidnapped by Taliban
in June 2010. Pakistani public is justified to ask former
and present federal and KP province governments and
army itself: What have we been doing in the last three
years to free these soldiers which would have been
detained not in Somalia but in North Waziristan, a
territory still part of Pakistan on present-day maps? If we
don’t have any answers, then why get angry on threats
being received from neighbours.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia

CMYK

the exile group, the CRS report added,
hifter began ‘preparing an army to march
on Libya’. The NFSL, the CSR said, is in
exile ‘with many of its members in the
United States.”
It took nearly 15 years for hifter to
march on Libya. It also took a massive
war that was purported to support a popular uprising. hifter, as Baker described,
is the Libyan equivalent of Iraq’s Ahmed
Chalabi, a discredited figure with strong
allies in Washington D.C. Chalabi was
sent to post-Saddam Iraq to lead the ‘democratization’ process. Instead, he helped
set the stage of the calamity underway in
that Arab country.
It is no wonder why hifter’s return
was a major source of controversy. Since
the news of his CIA affiliation was no big
secret, his return to Libya to join the
rebels in March caused much confusion.
Almost immediately, he was announced
by a military spokesman as the rebels’
new commander, only for the announcement to be dismissed by the National
Transitional Council as false. The NTC
was largely a composition of mysterious
characters that had little presence within
Libya’s national consciousness. hifter
found himself as the third man in the military ladder, which he accepted but apparently grudgingly so.
Despite the coup failure, Libya will
subsist on uncertainty. Arab and Western
media speak of illegal shipments of
weapons arriving into various Libyan airports. The militias are growing in size.
The central government is growing irrelevant. Jail breaks are reported regularly.
And Libyans find safety in holding on
tighter to their tribal and clan affiliations.
What future awaits Libya is hard to predict, but with western and Arab intelligence fingerprints found all over the
Libyan bedlam, the future is uninviting.
Ramzy Baroud is an internationallysyndicated columnist, a media consultant
and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com.
His latest book is “My Father Was a
Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story”
(Pluto Press, London).

Highlights of
the SRO

T

he Civil Service of Pakistan
(Composition and Cadre) Rules
2014 is a landmark SRO in the
sense that it carries something for everyone. The very first and most important
aspect is the formalisation of the change
of nomenclature of the group from
“DMG” to “PAS”. Another wonderful
aspect of the new rules is that the president has been bound to act on the advice
of FPSC. It will be mandatory on the
president of Pakistan to make appointments only on the recommendations of
FPSC. There has been much talk about
the issue of encadrement of posts. It is
important to fully comprehend the concept of encadrement before formulating
opinions. All the posts in the federal secretariat have been allotted to various
groups (like PAS, SG, and others). The
allocation for PAS is: DS (25 per cent),
JS (35 per cent), AS (65 per cent) and
Federal Secretary (65 per cent).
As for promotion to BS-20 and BS21, it is pertinent to add here that 65 per
cent of the vacancies of JS have been reserved for SG/others and 100 per cent of
vacancies of Sr JS have been reserved for
SG/others on the same 33 per cent-66 per
cent basis as explained above.
Another important aspect of these
rules is the induction of PCS officers into
PAS. As the reader might already know
about the long standing litigation going
on in the SC between PCS and PAS about
the distribution of vacancies, the present
SRO is likely to put to rest all such litigation. The PCS lobby had asked for revival
of induction of PCS officer as per the
original 1954 Cadre Rules. In its original
version the Cadre Rules 1954 only provided for induction against 20 per cent
vacancies. The present SRO is however a
step further to that in the sense that it provides for 30 per cent induction for PCS
officers in BS-19 and that too through an
open competitive process under FPSC.
–Ed Note

Friday, 21 February, 2014

BriTish BAnks surrender
To us on irAn
telegraph, UK

r

Peter oBorne

ECENTLY, a friend of
mine purchased a small
quantity of Iranian saffron
from a Birmingham merchant for £30 over the internet. This transaction was legal
according to British and international law. It did not contravene any
United Nations resolution. He transferred the funds via PayPal, the international payments firm. The
money was paid in pounds sterling.
What happened next was outrageous. PayPal sent him a menacing
email informing him that he was in
breach of US law, and asked him to
sign a form admitting that he had behaved illegally.
At this point my friend rang me
in alarm. He is a British citizen, had
done nothing wrong under British
law, yet here he was being threatened
by the United States as if he was a
criminal. When I looked into the matter, I quickly discovered that my
friend’s experience was the tip of an
enormous iceberg. It is not just private individuals who are persecuted
in this way by the United States. Private companies suffer from exactly
this harassment, as do banks.
Without protest, Britain has
given away control over its trade
with Iran to a department inside the
US Treasury called the Office of
Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). This
body monitors US sanctions by pursuing foreign companies involved in
trade with Iran. It has already persecuted major British banks, including
RBS, HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds.
In total, these banks have paid out
more than a billion dollars in penalties, even though they have done

nothing wrong under British or international law.
The most significant example is
the British bank Standard Chartered,
which specialises in doing business
in the Middle East and Asia. It felt
obliged to pay an incredible $667
million to OFAC and other agencies.
In fact, Standard Chartered was
blackmailed by the US authorities.
The bank was given a choice between being cut out of all business
with the US, or complying with its
sanctions regime against Iran.
I am certainly not saying that
sanctions are wrong. Indeed, it is essential to stress that in Britain we do
have our own sanctions against Iran,
for instance against companies or
state entities alleged to be involved in
nuclear weaponry. But these have
been agreed democratically, in the
sense that they are open to scrutiny
and criticism in and out of Parliament.
In a system that relies on rule by consent, this gives them legitimacy.
What is deeply troubling, however, is the presence of informal, secondary sanctions which the United
States has inflicted against Iran by
bullying British banks. These might
as well be secret. Bankers never talk
about them. Parliament has not debated, or even discussed, these sanctions. They haven’t been announced,
let alone agreed, by any minister.
They are not government policy. And
yet the United States has enforced an
informal banking boycott of Iran,
unilaterally imposed on Britain and
other foreign countries.
The response of the Government
is very troubling. In the normal
course of events, one would expect
ministers to defend very stoutly any
company or individual prevented
from going about their lawful busi-

ness by a foreign power. But neither
Downing Street nor the Foreign Office have lifted a finger.
It is important to stress that this
supine approach is new. Contrary to
legend, Margaret Thatcher stood up
strongly against United States pressure. According to my colleague
Charles Moore’s superb biography,
the Reagan administration tried to
stop a British company, John Brown,
selling turbines to a Russian gas
pipeline project that would supply
much of mainland Europe. Mrs
Thatcher probably disliked the idea
as much as Reagan. But she was
adamant that British companies
should not be subject to American
laws, so insisted that John Brown
fight its corner. Her defiance
worked. “Maggie Thatcher has
made me realise that I have been
wrong,” Reagan eventually acknowledged. A new agreement removed sanctions and allowed John
Brown to sell to Moscow.
But that was Thatcher. We are
talking now about Messrs Cameron
and Hague, who show no such determination to defend British interests
against foreign threats. Indeed, by a
perverse irony, it is actually easier
for a US company to trade with Iran
than a British one under the Coalition. This is because the bank of a
US exporter to Iran can process payments without threat from OFAC, so
long as the deal has OFAC approval.
The bank of a British exporter will
be persecuted, even though it has the
approval of the British Treasury.
Though most bankers refuse to
talk about OFAC, one insider told
me it operates like this. “OFAC tells
the British bank that it will suffer
consequences (for example, loss of
a US banking licence, or blacklist-

ing) if it doesn’t agree to a settlement. The bank must agree to cooperate with the authorities by ceasing
all business with Iran. It must then
pay a penalty stretching to millions
of dollars. It is also made to promise
not to reveal the terms of the agreement or the process that led to it –
even though the US authorities can
do so if they wish.
“This is like plea-bargaining.
The case isn’t taken to court: presumably the banks judge that they
will be penalised less if they settle
with OFAC. And this threatening
process creates an example for others, so it is no wonder that the rest of
the banking industry falls into line.”
So far as I can discover, it is impossible for any British bank to
evade this US sanctions regime.
Even if the contract with Iran is written under British law, and specifically outside the scope of US
jurisdiction, that seems to be no protection to any company targeted by
OFAC. Any bank that has an operation in the United States, or makes
any transaction in US dollars, places
itself within reach of punishment.
The effect of this financial
blockade is to ensure that the British
banking industry cannot provide
trade finance or money transmission
services for entirely legal trade with
Iran. Even medical or humanitarian
goods can’t be paid for. Most banks
are so terrified of the United States
that they will close down the account of any customer who even has
a connection with Iran. The flimsiest
and most unproven suspicion is
enough for banking facilities to be
withdrawn. The boycott has been enforced by British banks, even though
it is against British policy, because
of American threats.

Why 9/11 can happen again
los aNgeles times
GAry HArt And normAn AuGustine

In February 2001, a bipartisan federal commission
on which we served warned that terrorists would
acquire weapons of mass destruction and mass disruption. "Attacks against American citizens on
American soil, possibly causing heavy casualties,
are likely over the next quarter-century," the HartRudman Commission said. "In the face of this
threat, our nation has no coherent or integrated governmental structures." We added: "Congress should
rationalize its current committee structure so that it
best serves U.S. national security objectives."
We identified 50 ways to improve national security, none of which was implemented before
9/11. One recommendation — to create a single
agency to deal with homeland security — was not
acted on until a year and a half after those tragic
attacks.
One particularly consequential recommendation has been altogether ignored. Congress has
failed to "review its structure systematically in
light of likely 21st century security challenges," a
critical step needed "to ensure both that important
issues receive sufficient attention and oversight
and the unnecessary duplication of effort by multiple committees is minimized."
Put bluntly, congressional oversight of homeland security remains an organizational maze. Instead of doing what our group and the 9/11
Commission recommended, Congress has made
matters worse. After the creation of the Department of Homeland Security,
oversight was
claimed by 79
committees
and subcommittees, but that number has expanded to at
least 108.
No major company
could function with that kind of
structure, and neither can the
third-largest federal department.
As former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said, "When many
voices speak, it's like no voice speaks."
Virtually everyone who has examined the matter agrees about the need to streamline congressional supervision of homeland security. Since the

9/11 Commission made it a central recommendation, reports from think tanks such as the Heritage
Foundation and the Brookings Institution have
concurred, as did the Sunnylands-Aspen Institute
task force, a group of national security experts that
met last year and included 9/11 Commission
Chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton.
Because Congress has spurned this chorus of
qualified counsel, the country remains unprepared
to thwart some of the same kinds of terrorist attacks
that we warned about in the pre-9/11 days. Amid
concerns about a cyberattack on the power grid, airtraffic control system or financial sector, the seven
congressional committees that claim jurisdiction
over cyber security can't even agree on whether responsibility for the issue should reside in the Department of Homeland Security or elsewhere.
There are other areas of vulnerability. For example, when you fly on a major airline from a
major airport, you, your shoes, laptop and luggage
are screened by the Transportation Security Administration. But there isn't necessarily such screening
if you board a private jet at Teterboro Airport in
New Jersey, just a dozen miles from Manhattan, or
any number of small airports across the United
States. A potential hijacker could walk through the
terminal straight to the plane. And as Adm.
Thad Allen, a former

commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, notes, when
a small boat enters one of the harbors adjoining our
nation's cities, whether it be Los Angeles, New
York, Seattle, Galveston, Texas, or others, those responsible for national security can't readily determine to whom it is registered or what is in its hold.
Nor are these means of carrying danger onto our
shores the full extent of the problem. As former
Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, who headed a commission on weapons of mass destruction from 2008
to 2010, noted in the Sunnylands-Aspen report, the
list of biohazards, including substances that could
kill before we become aware that they are in our air
or water, hasn't been prioritized.
Unlike most stories about Congress not working well, this isn't a saga of left versus right, Republicans versus Democrats. Reports from across
the political spectrum have described the status quo
as "byzantine," "wasteful" and "dysfunctional."
The reason for congressional inaction is as
simple as it is sad. As noted by the Center for
Strategic and International Studies/Business Executives for National Security task force, Congress has "protected prerogative and privilege at
the expense of a rational, streamlined committee
structure. The result is a Department
of Homeland Security that is hamstrung by a system of congressional oversight that drains
departmental energy and invites
managerial circumvention."
A refrain emerged after 9/11: Why
hadn't the media, Congress and the president
paid more attention to the warnings and recommendations of the
Hart-Rudman report?
To that question
we would now add:
Must the country suffer another devastating, potentially
preventable attack before more
of its turf-protecting elected representatives forgo "prerogative and
privilege" for the sake of our nation's
security?
Gary Hart is a lawyer and former senator
from Colorado; Norman Augustine, a retired
aerospace executive, was undersecretary of the
Army from 1975 to 1977.

WORLD VIEW 09

The new AfPAk
NatioNal iNterest
Anno Bunnik

Developments in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon are so deeply
intertwined that we might start speaking about these countries
as a common space, as we do now with “AfPak.”
In less than a decade, pro-Iranian forces have entrenched
themselves in Damascus and seized near absolute power in
neighbouring Baghdad and Beirut. The structural
marginalization of the Sunnis in Iraq and Lebanon is splitting
these communities, as evident from the rise of jihadi groups.
This is the context of Syrian conflict.
Three years after the Arab uprising the “Syrian revolution” is
dead and to label it the “Syrian conflict” would not entirely be
right either. Due to its entanglement with existing political and
sectarian divisions in Iraq and Lebanon the war is no longer
strictly confined to Syria: the region is witnessing the
emergence of a single theatre of war in what we could call the
SIL region—Syria, Iraq, Lebanon.
Some would argue this is solely the consequence of a spillover
of the Syrian conflict into neighbouring states but that is too
simplistic. After all, the consequences of the war are totally
different to its other neighbours Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
They too feel the burden (notably Jordan, in terms of
refugees) but their fate is far less dependent on developments
in Aleppo and Damascus.
The social fabric of society and the political alignments in Iraq
and Lebanon, however, follow very similar fault lines as is the
case in Syria. The SIL region faces a shared predicament:
fragile state institutions, growing Sunni marginalization and,
consequently, the rise of Al Qaeda-affiliated (or originated)
groups that increasingly operate irrespective of national
borders. As a result, domestic politics in all three countries is
no isolated affair.
The Iranian belt of influence stretches from Afghanistan
to the Mediterranean Sea. But this position is increasingly
under threat by jihadi groups such as Jabhat al Nusra
(JN), the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS),
Abdullah Azzam Brigades (AAB) and Jabhat al Nusra in
Lebanon (JNL).
The majority of Sunnis still support moderate political
parties, such as Saad Hariri’s Future Movement and the
Iraqi Islamic Party, which operate within the democratic
system but with little success. The longer those parties are
shunned from the centers of power, the more attractive the
jihadi alternative will become.
The old adage holds here: if one cannot achieve
participation through nonviolent means, violence becomes
a credible and legitimate alternative to some. It should
therefore come as no surprise that the opposition is
becoming increasingly militarized.
The violent response to the power grab of pro-Iranian forces
over the state apparatus and its security forces is twofold:
Shiite neighbourhoods and state institutions have become
legitimate targets for the various jihadi groups. In addition to
the surge in anti-Shia terrorism, the region is witnessing an
increase in attacks on the Iraqi and Lebanese Armed Forces,
which are perceived to be tools of Iran.
In Lebanon, the radicalization of the Sunni citizenry (over a
quarter of the population) can be traced back to Hezbollah’s
gradual takeover of the Lebanese state. Through its
omnipresent threat of violence and assassination of top Sunni
figures, it has made itself the most powerful political party in
Lebanese politics.
Meanwhile opposition leader and former Prime Minister Saad
Hariri has not set foot in Lebanon in two years over fears of
facing the same fate as his late father. With Hariri out of touch
with his constituency, local hardliners, such as sheikh Assir in
Sidon and Sheikh Houssam al-Sabbagh in Tripoli, seized the
opportunity to present themselves as alternative resistance
figures against Hezbollah.
Hassan Nasrallah has de facto pushed Hariri out of politics
and is now finding himself having to deal with Al Qaeda
instead, as evident from the regular car bomb attacks in the
Hezbollah strongholds South Beirut and Hermel. Like their
“brothers” in Baghdad, Lebanese Shiites have now become
one of the main victims of jihadi terrorism.
Iraq’s political mess is strikingly similar. Nouri al-Maliki has
championed Shia politics within the Iraqi political system and
has increasingly marginalized the Sunni population whilst not
shying away from sectarianism. Al-Maliki framed the battle
with ISIS “a fierce confrontation between the supporters of
Hussain and the supporters of Yazid,” a reference to the battle
of Karbala in 680, a key event in Shia identity and tradition.
Meanwhile, numerous pictures emerged on social media of
Iraqi soldiers carrying Shia flags and symbols.
Similar to Lebanese Sunni dilemma, Iraqi Sunnis are also
forced to choose between mainstream political parties that
have little influence and radical groups that offer violent
resistance against the Shia-dominated state apparatus. For
groups such as ISIS this provides fertile ground for
mobilisation of new recruits. Al Maliki’s sectarianism
reinforces their message that the Shiites have taken over the
country.
2014 was not even a week old and ISIS has already engaged
in heavy fighting with rebels in Syria, detonated a deadly car
bomb in Beirut and attacked Iraqi-government troops in
Ramadi and Fallujah. ISIS is more active and controls more
land than Al Qaeda Central in over two decades. ISIS’ crossborder activities, and the emergence of a Jabhat al Nusra
faction in Lebanon, are clear indicators of the rise of jihadi
networks in the SIL region.
The take-over of the Syrian, Iraqi and Lebanese state by proIranian forces paints a complex and dark picture for the future.
As the Sunnis continue to be shunned from decision-making,
more and more young men will opt for the black flag of Al
Qaeda instead. This is the shared predicament that Syria, Iraq
and Lebanon face.
Anno Bunnik is a PhD Fellow at the Centre for Applied
Research in Security Innovation at Liverpool Hope University.

S the government is actively pursuing its policies of economic reforms, it is expecting up to Rs
250 billion merely from selling
stakes in banks and petroleum
companies in the first phase of selling government's shares in companies.
In an interview to the Wall Street Journal, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said
around $1.9 billion would be generated
through these sales via capital markets some for hard currency as global depository receipts listed on foreign exchanges.
"We will have this process on the fast

track," he said and first on the block would
be government stakes in petroleum companies and in lenders such as Habib Bank Ltd.
HBL, KA -0.62%, Allied Bank Ltd
ABL.KA -0.11% and United Bank Ltd.
UBL.KA +0.15%. These asset sales could
bolster the Karachi Stock Exchange which
while soaring in recent months-still isn't
taken seriously by many global investors because of its low volume of transactions and
the resulting susceptibility to speculators.
According to the Wall Street Journal,
Pakistan's government expects to sell several stakes in companies this spring in
moves aimed at dispelling concerns about
the pace of economic reforms.
The government also hopes to reap as

much as $5 billion from auctioning off thirdand fourth-generation mobile-phone licenses.
Another plan is to split the loss-making flagship carrier, Pakistan International Airlines
Corp. PIAA.KA +0.37%, into two companies ahead of selling a stake, he said.
Nawaz Sharif, who came to power in
June, inherited a troubled economy,
plagued by an energy crisis and a deteriorating security situation. Since then, the
government has taken steps to cut subsidies
and eliminate debt in the electricity sector,
reducing the blackouts. It also negotiated a
$6.6 billion deal with the International
Monetary Fund to stave off default. The report said the economy has since shown
signs of reviving, though growth is barely

keeping up with the country's birthrate. The
IMF this month acknowledged a tentative
turnaround, especially in the large-scale
manufacturing and services sectors. It
raised its forecast for economic growth in
the fiscal year ending June 30 to 3.1% from
its previous estimate of 2.8%. The government is more optimistic, expecting growth
of some 4.4%.
"I am quite happy and satisfied that
things are moving the way they should be.
We are right on track," Ishaq Dar said. "We
are pursuing and taking the most difficult
decisions, a few of which are politically
unpopular. But to fix the economy, those
stabilizing measures as well as structural
reforms were necessary."

Pakistan and China want speedy
work on economic corridor

Pakistan's liquid foreign reserves
reach around $8b

ISLAMABAD: China and Pakistan have urged the relevant offices on their sides to
work on the Economic Corridor on a speedy basis. "The two sides should work
together to ensure that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor starts to take practical
shape soon and yields tangible benefits," said the joint statement issued at the
conclusion of President Mamnoon Hussain's visit to China. However, Pakistan and
China noted with satisfaction the progress made in establishing the institutional
mechanisms that would support the Economic Corridor. The Joint Cooperation
Committee on the Long-Term Plan for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has
already been activated while the Working Groups on Planning, Transport Infrastructure
and Energy have held successful inaugural sessions. During President Mamnoon's
visit, the second session of the Joint Cooperation Committee was held. APP

ISLAMABAD: The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at
$7,994.2 million on February 14, 2014. Giving the break-up of the foreign reserves
position a statement of the Central Bank on Thursday said that foreign reserves held
by the State Bank of Pakistan stood at $3,196.7 million while Net foreign reserves
held by banks (other than SBP) were $4,797.5 million on February 14,2014. The
SBP statement said that during the week ending Feb 14,2014, SBP's Liquid FX
Reserves increased by $356 million to $3,197 million compared to $2,841 million
in the previous week. The Central Bank attributed the increase in its reserves to
US$406 million official inflows during the week; which include US$353 million
received under Coalition Support Fund, US$53 million from multilateral and
bilateral sources. APP

Textile exports up
7.6pc in 7 months
ISLAMABAD
APP

Exports of textile products from the
country witnessed positive growth of 7.59
percent during the first seven months of
the current fiscal year when compared to
the corresponding period of last year. The
overall textile exports from the country
were recorded at $8.035b during JulyJanuary (2013-14) as compared to the
exports of $7.468b during July-January
(2012-13), according to the latest data of
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The
textile products that witnessed positive
growth in trade included raw cotton,
exports of which increased by 70.21
percent by surging from $90.506m last
year to $154.047m during current year.
The exports of cotton cloth increased from
$1,528.455m last year to $1,644.974m
during current year, showing an increase
of 7.62 percent while the exports of cotton
(carded or combed) increased by 460
percent, from $0.596m to $2.336 million.
According to the data, the exports of yarn
(other than cotton yarn) increased by
17.22 percent by going up from $25.988m
to $30.462 million while the exports of
knitwear increased by 6.82m by surging
from $1,224.361m last year to
$1,307.907m this year. Exports of
bedwear increased from $1,032.092m to
$1,236.805m, showing increase of 19.83
percent, exports of readymade garments
increased from $1,026.202m to
$1,104,729m, an increase of 7.65 while
exports of art, silk and synthetic textile
increased from $200.078m to $211.461m,
showing increase of 5.69m.

CORPORATE CORNER
Dawlance introduces new
microwave oven DW-296 with
built-in Pakistani recipes
KARACHI: Dawlance the no. 1 home appliances brand of Pakistan
recently introduced their new state-of-the-art microwave oven model
DW-296, under their Cook King series. This new model is also
enriched with a plethora of technically advanced features such as jet
defrost, weight defrost, heating and cooking. It is equipped with an
exclusive memory program that is capable of performing several
consecutive functions at once. Along with a sleek digital control panel,
the product has an aesthetically appealing floral design that not only
cooks good food but also beautifies the kitchen. PRESS RELEASE

JS Bank recognized two years in a
row for its CSR Activities by NFEH
KARACHI: JS Bank has been recognized once again for its Corporate
Social Responsibility efforts by the renowned National Forum for
Environment and Health (NFEH) in collaboration with UNEP at the CSR
6th International Summit. JS Bank has been awarded in the category
of Social Impact. The award recognizes the positive social impact JS
Bank has had through its community programs in the areas of Health,
Education, Sustainable Development and Relief Efforts across the
country. The award marks the recognition of JS Bank's firm belief in
giving back to the community at large. Amongst numerous NGO's and
well renowned organizations who had submitted their nominations, JS
Bank was selected through a judges' panel for being the best in
overall "Social Impact" for the initiatives it has led across a broad
range of segments. PRESS RELEASE

Gas curtailment, low gas
pressure adversely impact KE’s
generation capability
KARACHI: According to a notification released by K- Electric
(Formerly KESC), SSGC has come down to supply only 70 MMCFD gas
to KE, which is very low against KE’s summer requirement. This
curtailment of gas that has adversely impacted power generation is in
complete violation of the Government’s Gas Allocation Policy under
which power sector comes on second highest priority after residential
consumers. Furthermore, pressure of the gas supplied to K-Electric
power generation plants is low due to which various gas-fired plants
at Korangi, SITE and Bin Qasim are not able to operate at their
optimum capacity. Due to the prevalent dismal gas supply situation,
KE’s generation capability is severely and adversely impacted. The
electricity demand for Karachi is now increasing in view of the
changing weather conditions and to meet this high demand KE
requires stable and adequate supply of gas. PRESS RELEASE

Bank Alfalah announces
Rising Talent Award at Fashion
Pakistan Week
KARACHI: As part of Bank Alfalah’s commitment to ‘Care’, it has
recently launched a ‘Rising Talent – Discovering the Potential of
Pakistan platform’, to provide opportunities for young talent in the
country to nurture, evolve and grow. Such an endeavor is likely to
play a pivotal role in boosting Pakistan’s image by showcasing
emerging success stories at a local and global level. Under this
umbrella, the Bank has announced that it will be introducing a first of
its kind, ‘Rising Talent Award’ at the Fashion Pakistan Week 2014. The
award will provide a prestigious platform for four young designers to
showcase their talents at the Pakistan Fashion Week 6. The Bank will
also provide a cash award of Rs500,000 for the most promising
upcoming designer. FPC designers’ collections are available for
viewing at http://www.facebook.com/pakistanfashion.org and winners
will be chosen through a transparent online voting process.
Participating institutions include Indus Valley School of Art and
Architecture (IVS) and the Asian Institute of Fashion & Technology.
Bank Alfalah’s Chief Executive Officer, Atif Bajwa said “Bank Alfalah
has been supporting entrepreneurs and individuals that have been
contributing to the economic growth of Pakistan. We are a country
rich in talented and skillful human capital and emerging success
stories must be brought to the forefront. Introducing this

collaborative recognition platform with FPC is a step in that very
direction, which I am hopeful, will translate into a long-term,
sustainable partnership to positively impact our fashion industry,
economic growth and people.” PRESS RELEASE

PTCL introduces ‘Spring offer’ for
new EVO customers
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL),
the largest ICT service provider in the country, has announced one
month complimentary internet usage for new EVO Wingle and EVO 3.1
customers. Applicable on both pre and postpaid packages purchased
between 14th - 28th February 2014, the 'Spring Offer' enables EVO
3.1Mbps customers to save up to 38% on monthly charges for next six
months in addition to the free usage period. For EVO Wingle the monthly
charges post promo shall be Rs.1500 offering 30GB volume downloads.
The offer enables customers to stream videos, web casts, play online
games and a host of other applications at high-speeds of PTCL's
nationwide EVO wireless broadband network. This offer rewards the loyal
EVO customers and appreciates their support in making PTCL EVO the
most popular wireless internet brand of the country. With the largest
data network in addition to widest coverage, PTCL wireless broadband is
empowering millions across Pakistan to reach out to the world, enabling
convenient access to knowledge and information. PRESS RELEASE

Food enthusiasts come together to
celebrate Karachi Eat Food Festival
KARACHI: The Karachi Eat Food Festival will be organized on the 22nd
and 23rd February, 2014 at Frere Hall, Karachi. During these two days,
Frere Hall will be transformed into a foodie wonderland with enticing
and delicious dishes, drinks and entertainment. Shan Foods (Pvt.) Ltd.,
a global food company is the lead sponsor while the event is being
organized by Chapra Khan Omari Event Architecture. The Karachi Eat
Food Festival aims to bring together the most creative and talented
street vendors, celebrity chefs and food enthusiasts to celebrate the
diversity of food that the city of Karachi has to offer. The idea behind
Karachi Eat is to create a festival that will revive the community spirit
that was so reminiscent of this great city of lights. People attending the
event will be treated to food competitions for children and adults,
music, live cooking demos hosted by celebrity chefs. PRESS RELEASE

KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Nisar Khoro and former ambassador to US Sherry Rehman at a ceremony organised by Alif Ailaan on Thursday. STAFF PHOTO

LEISURE 11

Friday, 21 February, 2014

HaGaR tHE HoRRIblE

aries

taurus

gemini

Your emotional
side is working like
crazy on getting you
over this weird situation
-- but you have to trust your
heart. Follow its guidance
and you can't go wrong,
no matter what happens.

A new emotional
state wells up
within you -- from
somewhere really deep!
It could be romantic or it
could be something more
spiritual. In any case, take it
seriously and follow its lead.

Do something
positive for
yourself today. You
may need to deal with a
minor health issue, kill a
bad habit or walk away from
a toxic relationship. You have
the power to take control!

cancer

leo

virgo

Try not to get
too worked up
over the weird issue that pops
up midday -- it's the least
meaningful problem you've
got. In fact, the upheaval that
comes today should give you
a positive new perspective.

Something is going
on deep within
your mind -- and you
may be more of a witness
than a participant. That's okay,
because you should be able to
see that it's a positive process,
albeit somewhat chaotic.

Dive deeper
into your latest
obsession. Things are
getting intense, and you may
find that you've got a new
career path or life goal ahead
of you now. That's perfect
for your spiritual direction.

libra

scorpio

sagittarius

Depth is more
important than
ever right now, so make
sure that you're getting more
than you see on the surface.
You should get more clues
once you dig a little, and then
things really get interesting.

Your animal
magnetism is
making life a lot
more interesting for your
latest romantic attachment.
It could also make you a
target for recruitment from
a new employer or school.

You feel moodier
than usual today
-- which is likely an
indicator that you need
to spend time alone. Even
the most extroverted people
require occasional downtime,
so shut the door for today.

dIlbERt

GaRFIEld

baldo

capricorn

aquarius

pisces

Your objective
judgment is easier
than ever to access
today, and others are
delighted that you are willing
to help mediate disputes. It
shouldn't be hard to get all
parties to agree to something.

Your emotions
run deep today,
so check in with
yourself and make sure
you're being honest. It
could be time for a major
change, but only if it
feels absolutely right.

You're a bit
out of sorts
today, though your
energy should put you in a
generally good mood. Avoid
any big decisions, if possible,
and try to maintain a steady
course through the day.

cRosswoRd

sUdokU

ACROSS

bRIdGE

How to play
fill in all the squares in the grid so that each row,
column and each of the squares contains all the digits.
the object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to
satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3
box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once.

new approach to killing cancer
cells that uses a patient’s own immune system has beaten back
leukemia in 88 percent of adults,
US researchers said.
The report by scientists in New York
offers more good news for the burgeoning
field of cancer immunotherapy, which uses
what some describe as a “living drug” that
was hailed by Science magazine as the
breakthrough of 2013. The latest trial, published in the journal Science Translational
Medicine, involved 16 people with a kind
of blood cancer known as adult B cell acute
lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Some 1,400 people die of ALL in the
United States each year, and while it is
among the most treatable cancers, patients
often become resistant to chemotherapy
and eventually relapse.
For this study, 14 of 16 adult patients
achieved complete remission after their T
cells were genetically engineered so that
they could focus on eradicating cancer.
The patients’ median age was 50, and
they were all on the brink of death when
they entered the trial, having relapsed or
discovered that chemotherapy was no
longer working. The longest remission

among them so far is about two years, and
that patient is still going strong, said lead
author Renier Brentjens, director of cellular
therapeutics at Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center. Without this therapy, just 30
percent of relapsed patients would be ex-

A cat bite can land
you in the hospital

Cat lovers might want to take extra caution the next time
they tempt the wrath of their favourite pet feline. A new
study produced by the Mayo Clinic has found that cat bites
are potentially more serious than most individuals, and
medical experts, previously thought. In fact, about 30
percent of people seeking medical treatment for a cat bite
need hospitalization to treat the wound. The three-year
study confirms what hand surgeons like Dr. Brian Carlsen
have long suspected — that most people who suffer from
serious cat bites simply assume the wounds will heal on
their own. “Cat bite injuries to the hand can progress to
serious infection,” reads an excerpt from the study. “The
treatment of such infections often requires hospitalization,
intravenous antibiotic therapy, and operative treatment …
these findings should increase concern for a severe
infection and warrant hospitalization and urgent
consultation with a hand surgeon.” In most cases, a cat
bite isn’t serious. Cats have smaller teeth than larger pets
like dogs and rarely are able to tear the skin. However, a
cat bite poses a threat almost like a needle injection. On
the surface, the bite might not appear to pose a health
risk, but the deep puncture wound may have left
dangerous bacteria inside a person’s body. In January,
Marie Joyce wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post
detailing how a bite from her pet cat left her in the hospital
for four days. And earlier this month, an Oregon man
caught a case of bubonic plague after being bitten by a
cat. “With cats, they can insert the bacteria quite deeply,”
Carlsen said. And if the bite is located on one of the hand’s
joints, the body’s immune system is less likely to be able
to flush out or attack the source of infection. “On the hand,
there are so many joints,” Carlsen said. “They don’t have
any circulation, they are just petri dishes. The immune
system doesn’t have access to them.” Bottom line: Carlsen
says if you’ve been bitten by a cat and don’t see
improvement in the wound in the first 24 hours, you
should probably seek treatment. Beyond that, he says,
caregivers also have a responsibility to do more than hand
out a course of antibiotics. For example, in the Mayo Clinic
study, 21 patients did not respond to antibiotic treatment.
If a deep joint wound isn’t properly treated, it may end up
needing costly surgery. “I was surprised to see how bad so
many of them are,” Carlsen said. “We see many cases
requiring multiple surgeries.” courtesy yAHoo NeWs

pected to respond to salvage chemotherapy.
- ‘Re-educating’ T cells The process involves removing some
of the patient’s T-cells and altering them
with a gene to make them recognize a protein, known as CD19, on the cancer cells,

If you’re 60 and older, every additional hour a day you spend sitting is
linked to doubling the risk of being
disabled, according to a new study.
And the snag is that moderate exercise won’t protect you from the hidden hazards of prolonged sitting, the
study reveals. It is the first to show
sedentary behaviour is its own risk
factor for disability, separate from
lack of moderate vigorous physical
activity. In fact, immobility is almost
as strong a risk factor for disability as
lack of moderate exercise. If there are
two 65-year-old women, one sedentary for 12 hours a day and another
sedentary for 13 hours a day, the second one is 50 per cent more likely to
be disabled, the study found.
Dorothy Dunlop, professor of
medicine at Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine and
lead author of the study, said: ‘This is
the first time we’ve shown sedentary
behaviour was related to increased
disability regardless of the amount of
moderate exercise. ‘Being sedentary
is not just a synonym for inadequate
physical activity.’ Prof Dunlop said
she was surprised by the findings.
‘It means older adults need to reduce the amount of time they spend
sitting, whether in front of the TV or
at the computer, regardless of their
participation in moderate or vigorous
activity’ she said. The study focused
on a sample of 2,286 adults aged 60
and older from the US National
Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey. It compared people in similar
health with the same amount of moderate vigorous activity. Moderate activity is walking briskly, as if you are
late to an appointment. The participants wore accelerometers from 2002
to 2005 to measure their sedentary
time and moderate vigorous physical
activity, says a report in the Journal
of Physical Activity & Health.
The accelerometer monitoring
was an objective measure of seden-

so that they can attack them. Left to their
own devices, T cells can attack other harmful invaders in the body but will allow cancer to grow uninterrupted.
“Basically, what we do is re-educate
the T cell in the laboratory with gene therapy to recognize and now kill tumor
cells,” Brentjens said. After 15 years of
work on the technology, known as tumortargeted chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells, “it seems to really work in
patients with this particular type of cancer,” Brentjens told a foreign news agency.
Last year, his team reported the first promising results in five adult patients who
achieved remission after the therapy. He
estimated that between 60 and 80 people
in the United States have since entered experimental trials of the new treatment,
which is also being studied in Europe.
- ‘Not a fluke’ In December 2013, experts from multiple US centers where trials are ongoing
presented their findings at the American
Society of Hematology (ASH) annual
meeting, including the University of
Pennsylvania, which is also studying the
approach in adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is enrolling pediatric patients in trials
of T-cell therapy. Brentjens said other US

centers have shown similar remission
rates in their studies so far, “demonstrating that this isn’t a fluke.”
“This is a real phenomenon,” he told
a foreign news agency. “This could be a
paradigm shift in the way we approach
cancer therapy.”
Kanti Rai, chief of the CLL Research
and Treatment Program at North Shore-LIJ
Health System in New York, described the
latest study as “a major service to all of us.”
Rai, who was not involved in the research, noted that it has been a few years
since scientists first reported on their initial
success against CLL. “In the present report,
we are told that equally dramatic and excellent results were obtained when a more
frightening and fatal disease, such as adult
ALL was the enemy,” said Rai.
Researchers are still trying to figure
out why it does not work in all patients. Efforts are also ongoing to identify cancerspecific receptor cells that could allow the
technique to tackle other types of tumors.
“The expansion to other kinds of cancers
is next on the to-do list,” said Brentjens.
In the meantime, the therapy remains
expensive, costing around $100,000 per
patient, a price tag experts believe will
come down once pharmaceutical companies get more involved and the technique
becomes more widespread.

ATTENTION SENIORS!
SITTING FOR AN EXTRA HOUR A DAY IF YOU’RE OVER 60 ‘DOUBLES THE
RISK OF BEING DISABLED’ EVEN IF YOU TAKE MODERATE EXERCISE

tary behaviour because the older and
heavier people are, the more they
tend to overestimate their physical
activity. Previous research suggested
a relationship between sedentary behaviour and disability but it was
based on self-reports and could not
be verified. Because the study examines data at one point in time, it cannot determine that sedentary
behaviour causes disability but
‘draws attention to a potential prob-

lem’ said Prof Dunlop. Studies with
animals have shown immobility is a
separate risk factor for negative effects on health. ‘This is the first piece
of objective evidence that corroborates the animal data’ she added.
There has been growing interest
in the downsides of prolonged sitting,
which could be both a marker for a
sedentary lifestyle and an independent risk factor. Previous research
found people who watch six hours of

Looks like trash:
Cleaner in Italy throws artworks
worth thousands in bin
An Italian cleaner accidentally threw the
contemporary pieces of art worth thousands
of pounds in the bin. The cleaner, in southern
Italy, was said to be ‘just doing her job’ when
she thought two artworks, supposed to be
part of an exhibition, were rubbish left
behind by those setting up the show.
Organisers of the exhibition said one of the
pieces of art she threw away included pieces
of cookies, which were scattered on the floor,

as part of an artistic arrangement. The
cleaning company has said it will use its
insurance to pay for the artworks, which
have been valued at £8,220 (10,000 euros).
It is not the first time a piece of
contemporary art has been mistaken for
rubbish. In 2001, bosses at London’s
Eyesto’rm gallery had to rescue a work by
artist Damien Hirst from a bin after cleaners
threw it away mistaking it for rubbish. oNLINe

CMYK

TV a day cut short their lifespan by
five years compared with someone
who watches no TV. People who sit
for longer have bigger waist sizes,
and higher levels of cholesterol,
blood sugar and triglycerides.
The average adult spends 90 per
cent of their leisure time sitting
down and less than half of adults
meet World Health Organization
physical activity recommendations.
courtesy DAILy MAIL

Friday, 21 February, 2014

ARTS

Kareena, Bipasha ‘kiss’and make up!
NEWS DESK

LAHORE
PRESS RELEASE

T

He inaugural show
of one of Pakistan’s
first virtual galleries,
The Paint Bucket is
due to be held on ýthe 22nd
of February in Lahore.
The Paint Bucket is fundamentally an Online Gallery,
and the first of its kind in
Pakistan.”The Gallery aspires to provide emerging
artists with a platform for
their ambitious projects and
to give them an opportunity
to be recognised in the international art community,”
says Sehr Latif, the founder
of The Paint Bucket.
For the launch exhibitioný,
The Paint Bucket has handpicked seven artists who
have excelled in their respective fields ranging
from painting to printmaking. The Paint Bucket plans
for these seven artists to
bring with them flavours of
the various parts of Pakistan from which they originate.

Sehar says, “The Pakistani
art scene is growing rapidly, and now its presence
in the international arena is
turning heads. More and
more galleries, collectors
and platforms are keen to
acquire contemporary art
from Pakistan. Keeping this
in mind and ýseeing that
there is hardly any opportunity for many young Pakistani artists to promote
themselves on a virtual
platform that is accessible
to local as well as international audiences, The Paint
Bucket Gallery feels that
they can help by bridging
this gap in a big way.”
Pakistan is still new to virtual galleries, whereas the
world has been holding online exhibitions, auctions
and art fairs for quite a few
years now and have been
successfully promoting art
globally. It is hoped that
Paint Bucket folloýws in
the same direction to provide young artists of Pakistan a platform to
showcase and sell their art.

I thought my
film career
was over: Cate
Blanchett

No one was ready to
produce Highway: Imtiaz Ali

NEWS DESK
Academy award-winning
actor Cate Blanchett says
Blue Jasmine came her
way at the time when she
thought her movie career
was nearing its end.
The 44-year-old Canadian
actor was left stunned after
learning that Woody Allen
wanted her to star in Blue
Jasmine, as she was
convinced her movie
career was over after
leaving Hollywood to
concentrate on theatre in
Australia.
“It was incredibly
unexpected, I’ve been
working in the Sydney
theatre with my husband
for the last six years, and I
thought I didn’t have a
film career to return to.
Actor years are incredibly
short, so it was a great
surprise to get the call,”
she said.
The widely-acclaimed star
has scored an Oscar
nomination this year under
the best actress category for
her role in Blue Jasmine.
The movie tells the story of
a rich Manhattan socialite
(played by Cate Blanchett)
falling into poverty and
homelessness. The
Australian star won the
2014 the Best Actress
BAFTA for Blue Jasmine.

P

op star Miley
Cyrus has sparked
rumours that she
might be dating
Jared Leto after the duo
developed a connection
over their love for music.
The 21-year-old singer,
who parted ways with
actor Liam Hemsworth last
year, apparently stayed at
Leto`s place some time
ago, reported US

magazine.
“(They) are hooking up.
She stayed over at his
house in LA in early
February,” a source said.
They both attended Clive
Davis` Pre-Grammys gala
on January 25 and were
photographed talking to
each other.
Cyrus and Leto, 42, have
reportedly “known each
other for a while.”
However, their bond has
deepened over time.

arhan akhtar’s vocal skills have
taken his repertoire to a new
pitch and the actor is
strengthening it even further. he has
lent his voice to the music of his
upcoming film Shaadi Ke Side/Effects,
which includes two songs Yahaan
Wahaan and ahista ahista, composed
by Pritam. Written by Swanand Kirkire,
Yahaan Wahaan is an upbeat
melancholic number that plays out
between Farhan’s and Vidya Balan’s
characters Sid and Trisha at their most
crucial moments in the film. Says the
actor, “It’s a new kind of singing style
for me, which made it challenging and
exciting. I love the fact that it’s not a
typical sad song and yet, Pritam has
evoked those emotions with his chord
progression and Swanand’s lyrics have
given it a lot of heart.” Farhan
recorded the song in one sitting, over
a couple of hours in the presence of
both Pritam and the film’s director,
Saket Chaudhary, who says, “Both the
songs are beautiful and emotional and
they convey feelings that the character
Sid would never be able to voice
otherwise. Farhan’s singing has given
the songs intimacy, pain and joy.”
Yahaan Wahaan has already received
rave reviews on the internet and
Farhan will soon be performing this
song live on stage.as part of the film’s
narrative, Farhan, who plays a
struggling musician, resorts to
composing advertising jingles to keep
his kitchen fires burning. NEWS DESK

FIRST LOOK: KATRINA’S
SISTER ISABELLE IN
‘DR CABBIE’

K
NEWS DESK

F

Or Imtiaz Ali, it was homecoming of sorts. An alumnus of
Hindu College, Imtiaz looked
like just another student when he
visited the Delhi University campus and
interacted with students while promoting his upcoming film Highway.
Greeted with loud cheers and a performance by Ibtida (dramatics society
of Hindu College), the director had a
word of wisdom for students of the college, “Always tell your own stories, not
those of others. I have a lot of expectation from Hindu.”
And we have a lot of expectations
from his film, Highway. The director revealed that the film – despite being a
labour of love – had a difficult birth.

MILEY CYRUS SPARKS DATING
RUMOURS WITH JARED LETO
NEWS DESK

FARHAN AKHTAR
TRIES NEW
SINGING STYLE

F

I

T seems marriage has tamed Kareena
Kapoor Khan. The pretty actress was
spotted kissing and bonding with her
one-time rival Bipasha Basu. It was an
awards event where Kareena was accompanied by her husband Saif Ali Khan. According to a news report, there was a moment
when Kareena shared the stage with Bipasha.
At that time both the actresses stood at extreme ends on the dais whereas Saif, Anil
Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit were in the middle. However, after some time they became
warm towards each other and Bips was seen
chatting with Bebo and Saif Ali Khan. In fact
there were pictures of both the beauties kissing each other. Both the actresses have had
a bitter past and had engaged in mudslinging after their film Ajnabee released in
2001. Their catfight got a lot of media attention, especially when Bebo called Bips
Kaali Billi. There were also rumours about
an affair between Bipasha and Saif Ali
Khan. However, time has healed old
wounds and everything seems to be fine
between these beauties.

First inaugural
show of The
Paint Bucket
Gallery on 22nd

13

Even tough the duo have
developed a close
connection, it is reported
that Leto does not believe
in dating.
“Leto doesn`t do
girlfriends,” a source said.
The `Dallas Buyers Club`
star has previously dated
actress Cameron
Diaz, with whom he got
engaged in 2000.
They ended their
four-year relationship
in 2003.

CMYK

“For the longest time, I couldn’t
make the film (Highway) as nobody
was ready to produce it. Ultimately, I
had to produce it myself.”
Be it Socha Na Tha (2005), Jab We
Met (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009) or
rockstar (2011) “My films are not
meant to be a comment on love or the
perception of love... these are just stories but they are termed as love stories,
and I don’t grudge that,” Imtiaz added.
Discussing the toughest part of
shooting Alia Bhatt, randeep Hoodastarrer, the director said, “It was coming
back to Delhi and shooting with the
conveniences of food and other luxuries. We had become a little junglee.
Coming back to civilization was tough
and that’s something all of us felt. We
really enjoyed being in the wild.”

aTrIna Kaif’s younger sister
Isabelle Kaif is all set to make her
acting debut with ‘Dr. Cabbie’, co
produced by sister’s ex flame Salman
Khan. While sister Katrina Kaif began her
acting career in Bollywood with ‘Boom’,
Isabelle will be starting with a Canadian
film. But the film’s first look does have a
Bollywood touch to it. The film, which is
being shot in Toronto, will be produced
under Salman Khan’s Being human
(SKBh) Productions. The film is the story
of an Indian unemployed immigrant
doctor-turned-cab driver,who becomes a
local hero when he converted his taxi into
a mobile clinic. The movie is being
directed by Canadian director JeanFrancois Poulliot. apart from Isabella, the
cast also includes Vinay Virmani, adrianne
Palicki, Kunal nayyar, Lillete Dubey, Mircea
Monroe, rizwan Manji. however, Isabelle
is not the leading lady of the film and is
paired with second male lead, Kunal
nayyar, who is famous with the hit sitcom
The Big Bang Theory. NEWS DESK

14 SPORTS

Friday, 21 February, 2014

WASIM AKRAM SEES BIG
ROLE FOR ZAHEER KHAN
e

SPORTS DESK

VEN as the whispers have started to get louder
over Zaheer Khan's future in the Indian side,
Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan fast bowling great, and former India bowling coach Eric
Simons believe the left-arm quick still has a
big role to play.
In the four Tests since returning to the side in the
South Africa tour, Zaheer has taken 16 wickets including a five-for in the second Test against New Zealand.
However both South Africa and New Zealand batsmen
raised big totals, capitalising on the inconsistency of
the Indian bowling which lacked the intensity and importantly a bowling leader.
"It is very rare that you make a comeback having
played 90 Tests. So it is just not your bowling but also
your reputation at stake," Akram told ESPNcricinfo.
"But in the time left before he finally retires, Zaheer
has the opportunity to contribute a lot still. Like Imran
[Khan] did with myself and Waqar [Younis], Zak can
stand at mid-on and mid-off and teach other bowlers
skills like reverse swing, have a word with the young
fast bowlers when things are not going well."

Shortening his run-up, how and when to use reverse
swing, how to use angles and yorkers were some of the
things Akram said Imran taught him during his formative years. "Talking, explaining fast bowling is an art.
Just because one is a fast bowler does not always mean
he can teach easily to others. So the more Zaheer talks
to the others, he will learn and teach more. I used to just
ask Imran 'kya karoon, kya karoon (what should I do)'
for the first three years. And that is how I learned."
Akram cited the example of the Wellington Test
last week where Ishant Sharma went wicketless in the
second innings - a match that Brendon McCullum
turned on its head with a triple-century. "Dhoni cannot
speak from behind the wickets. Ishant no doubt
bowled well during the series, but no wicket for 160odd runs it means he had some psychological issues.
So it is for Zak to take the initiative to figure out what
Ishant's plan was and talk to him accordingly. If the
pitch is flat, wickets are not coming, then how does
one stop the runs are things that have to be spoken
about. Other than taking wickets Zaheer's responsibility should help make one or two good fast bowlers
before he exits cricket."
Rahul Dravid, former India captain, told ESPN-

cricinfo earlier this week Zaheer's struggles were evident in both South Africa and New Zealand and the
bowler needed to ask himself some tough questions. "I
would hate to see Zaheer Khan end his career bowling
120-125 kph and limp away from international cricket,"
Dravid said.
However Simons, who was the bowling coach
when fellow South African Gary Kirsten was the Indian
coach, pointed out that speed has never really been Zaheer's strength. "Zaheer is not a very physical bowler,"
Simons said. "Zaheer is lot more tactical in his approach, lot more skillful in the sense he has relied more
on the swinging the ball and using the variations to be
successful. And he will just end up relying more and
more on those skills as time goes along."
Simons also said that India could not afford to carry
a fast-bowling pack who were more medium than fast.
"The important thing in any bowling attack is the balance so you can't have three or four guys just bowling
at 120-125 kph and try and swing the ball around. If he
(Zaheer) is used more to complement the other chaps,
who are bowling quicker then he becomes more effective. That will naturally become his role in future. Even
Richard Hadlee became very effective in such a role."

MurAlithArAn, sehwAg

Dhoni out of
AsiA Cup with
siDe strAin

TO CAPTAIN MCC
SPORTS DESK

MOHAMMAD AKRAM
PROPOSES ROTATION FOR
PAKISTAN BOWLERS
SPORTS DESK
With Mohammad Irfan out of the squad after aggravating
a hip injury, Pakistan's bowling coach Mohammad Akram
has outlined a rotation policy for the major international
contests ahead of the team. Akram, who was given a
two-year contract, confirmed that Pakistan would focus
on managing their bowlers' workloads to avoid injuries.
Rotation is an unfamiliar concept for Pakistan, and teams
over the last one-and-a-half years have been selected
largely from first-choice players. During Akram's previous
stint as bowling coach, he oversaw the international
debuts of Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil and Asad Ali, but none of
them has graduated to becoming a front-line bowler.
Akram's influence on bowlers like Irfan and Junaid Khan
has been evident, but Pakistan's bench strength is thin.
"We have decided to focus on the Under-19 level to get a
group ready right from the start," Akram said.
"Meanwhile we have realised the need for a rotation
policy and both captains [Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad
Hafeez] should accept and adapt the mechanism and
implement it in the long run. "Irfan is a lethal bowler but
it's not like we are overreliant on him. If you remember
we won the (ODI) series in South Africa without him. So
there are a lot of things we have discussed and we are
thinking ahead now, and I can assure there is no sense
of deprivation in the dressing room and from the
captain." Irfan's fitness has been a talking point ever
since he made his debut in 2010. His longest continuous
streak in international cricket came in the UAE last year,
when he bowled 65.5 overs in two Tests against South
Africa, 13 in a tour game against UAE, and 48 overs in
five ODIs against South Africa. During this time, he
became an important member of the Pakistan attack. He
was picked for the final T20 against South Africa in Dubai
last year despite carrying niggles, and ended up injuring
his hip. He recovered after three months of rehabilitation
but aggravated his injury during a recent domestic T20
match. "His [Irfan's] fitness wasn't compromised at all.
He was played rightly and was fit enough for the match
but injuries are part and parcel of the game," Akram
said. "It can't be avoided by the doctors and the bowling
coach. What we can do is try and manage the bowlers'
workloads." With Irfan out, Pakistan lack a strike bowler
though Umar Gul, who had been out of contention for
over nine months with a knee injury, is back in the side
following his return for the ODIs against Sri Lanka in
December. "Umar Gul's performance since his comeback
has been outstanding and we need to have a senior like
him in the team," Akram said. "He just returned from an
injury and his still bit wary about taking a full workload,
which is natural, especially after a knee injury.

Muttiah Muralitharan, the world's leading international wicket-taker, and former India opener Virender
Sehwag, as well as Monty Panesar and prospective
England opener Sam Robson are among the players
named in the MCC squad for next month's Champion
County match in Abu Dhabi.
An MCC XI captained by Sehwag will play
Durham, the 2013 Championship winners, in a fourday first-class match beginning on March 23 to herald
the start of the English season. A T20 tournament featuring Lancashire, Sussex and Durham precedes the
main fixture, in which Muralitharan will lead the side.
Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene
and England allrounder Samit Patel are also included
in the squad, along with Patel's Nottinghamshire
team-mates Harry Gurney, the left-arm seamer recently called up by England, and former New
Zealand international Andre Adams.
As has been the case for the last few years, the
Champion County match will be a day-night affair,
using pink cricket balls; pink balls will also be used
in the T20 fixtures.
"I was delighted to be asked to play in this match,
and being able to captain the MCC side makes it even
more of a privilege," Sehwag said. "We're taking a
very strong squad out to Abu Dhabi so I'm sure the
standard of cricket on show will be very high.
"It's also very exciting to be playing under lights
with the pink ball. It's a big innovation for the game
and I'm very keen to be involved in any initiative
which aims to increase the appeal of cricket to a
wider audience."
John Stephenson, the MCC's head of cricket, said

he hoped the continued pioneering of the pink ball in
day-night first-class cricket would soon lead to it
being taken up at higher levels within the game.
"MCC has had very positive results from these
day-night Champion County matches, and has provided the game with invaluable insight into the possibilities of playing floodlit Test cricket," he said. "The
evidence continues to mount and the club believes this
will soon translate into day-night Test cricket, which
will help to re-invigorate the five day international
game in countries where attendances are low."
The trip will also feature Lancashire playing 50over matches against an MCC Universities Combined XI and MCC Young Cricketers on March 22
and 23 respectively.
MCC squad: Virender Sehwag (capt), Muttiah
Muralitharan (captain T20 fixtures), Sam Robson,
Luis Reece, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Samit Patel,
Prassana Jayawardene, Ollie Rayner, Andre Adams,
Harry Gurney, Kyle Hogg, Monty Panesar.

SPORTS DESK
MS Dhoni has been ruled out of the Asia
Cup in Bangladesh because of a side
strain. Virat Kohli will lead India in
Dhoni's absence and Dinesh Karthik slots
in as the replacement wicketkeeper.
Dhoni suffered a grade-one strain to his
left side during the second Test against
New Zealand in Wellington and will
undergo rehabilitation for ten days. The
Indian squad landed in Mumbai today
after failing to win a single game in New
Zealand. Kohli has led India in eight
ODIs previously, when Dhoni was
injured during a tri-series in the West
Indies involving Sri Lanka and then
rested from a tour of Zimbabwe in July
and August 2013. India won seven of
those matches. Karthik has not played for
India since the tour of Zimbabwe last
year either. India's first game in the Asia
Cup is against Bangladesh on February
26. The tournament ends on March 8,
and the ICC World Twenty20 begins on
March 21, also in Bangladesh.

SIMMONS HAILS VICTORY OVER WORLD CHAMPIONS
KingSTOn
AGENCIES

Phil Simmons, the Ireland coach, has hailed the
upset win over the West Indies as a mammoth and
much-needed confidence booster ahead of the
World Twenty20 in March. Simmons added that
the fact that the win came in West Indies' back-yard
made it even more important to his team but
warned his charges not to rest on their laurels as
they look to close out the series on Friday.
"It's a big victory because we are in West Indies'
hometown so to beat the world champions, it's going
to give us a lot of confidence, especially going into
the World T20s in March," Simmons said. "It's good
for us to beat [ICC] Full Members and especially
the better ones such as the West Indies."
Simmons believes that while many West Indian players were still feeling the effects from the
Nagico Super50 tournament, the time his team had
to rest and acclimatise gave them a slight advantage. "I think we've had more time to prepare and
we were sharper today and got accustomed to the
conditions. We bowled a lot better than we've done
in the past and we also fielded a lot better. Our

CMYK

bowlers did the job and we came out on top."
Simmons praised the disciplined bowling of
Alex Cusack as well as Tim Murtagh and Kevin
O'Brien, all who scalped two apiece, to restrict the
West Indies to a paltry 116 off their allotted 20.
He added that they had high hopes for left-arm
spinner George Dockrell who also helped stymie
the West Indians with a tidy 1 for 15 from his four
overs. "He's been practising and working hard. He
got his pace and his length well today and that's
what helped our other bowlers get the wickets. It's
nice to see him and Cusack back in form." In their
chase, Ireland took it to the last over before making
117 for the loss of four wickets but Simmons admitted that the batting needed improving if they
were to mount a serious challenge in Bangladesh.
Simmons said that changes were forthcoming as he
wanted to bolster his batting as he believes they
have a good understanding of the Sabina pitch now.
"I don't think the top couple of our batters batted as well as they could have. We did manage to
end up batting smartly in the conditions though and
it came down to a big partnership which is what
you need in these circumstances, something
around fifty or fifty-something," he continued.

Friday, 21 February, 2014

ferrer books quArter-finAl tiCket in rio
RiO

D

bowed out of the Delray as a top seed as
he was also ousted in the first round in
2010. "I struggled at times with the lights
and my focus, but I'm not going to take
anything away from (Johnson)," Haas
said. "I hate to lose, but I'm happy for
him." In other action, Australia's Lleyton
Hewitt was also sent home early after he
retired because of a right shoulder injury.
He was trailing fellow countryman
Marinko Matosevic 7-6.
Fourth seed Anderson also advanced
when opponent Ivo Karlovic was forced to
retire early in the match, while sixth seed
Feliciano Lopez overcame a one-set
deficit to beat Adrian Mannarino 4-6 6-4
6-2. Marin Cilic easily knocked out Benjamin Becker 6-1 6-3.

AGENCIES

AVID Ferrer led a Spanish
charge into the quarter-finals of
the Rio de Janeiro Open with
victory over Federico Delbonis.
The world number four and
second seed eventually imposed himself
on his Argentine opponent after an even
opening to the match to post a 7-6(2) 6-1
win in one hour and 26 minutes.
During the first set, Delbonis managed
to save four set points before losing it on
a tie-break but from then on in it was all
about claycourt specialist Ferrer, who won
six games in a row to seal victory.
Ferrer, who won the tournament in
Buenos Aires at the weekend, moves on to
meet Thomaz Bellucci in the third round
of action in Brazil after the local wildcard
downed seventh seeded Juan Monaco 4-6
6-3 6-3. Ferrer's compatriots Tommy Robredo and Pablo Andujar also made it
through after respective wins over Dusan
Lajovic and Martin Klizan.
Fourth seed Robredo eased to a 6-2 61 success over Serbian qualifier Lajovic
while eighth seed Andujar was handed a
walkover when Klizan pulled out of their
match, citing a stomach problem. Rafael
Nadal is the top seed at this ATP 500 event.

Meanwhile, a day after displaying
dominant form at the Delray Beach Open,
top seed Tommy Haas suffered an upset
loss to unheralded American Steve Johnson 6-4 2-6 7-6 in the second round.
Haas had opened the tournament with
a breezy win over Wayne Odesnik on
Tuesday but the 35-year-old could not repeat the feat against an aggressive young
opponent who had to win two qualifying
matches to make the tournament's main
draw. Johnson banged out 13 aces and did
not fold when Haas mounted a rally and
claimed the second set.

In the decisive third, Johnson held
firm and dominated the tie-breaker to gain
a huge victory in his young career.
"I've had a few wins I'll never forget,
and this is one of them," Johnson said. "I
played a good week in Dallas (Challenger)
two weeks ago and I played two good
matches in qualifiers (here)."
The win marks the second time this
season Johnson has defeated a top-20 opponent, after he took down Kevin Anderson, who was ranked 20th at the time, last
month in Auckland.
This is not the first time Haas has

BARCELONA CHARGED
WITH TAX FRAUD OVER
SIGNING OF NEYMAR
SPORTS DESK
Barcelona have been charged by a Spanish
court with committing tax fraud in the
signing of Brazil forward Neymar last year,
a court spokesman has confirmed. "Judge
Pablo Ruz has charged FC Barcelona with
an infringement against the tax authority
relating to the purchase of the Brazilian
player," the spokesman said. Barca denied
wrongdoing after local media reported on
Wednesday that Spain's public prosecutor
had asked Judge Ruz to lay fraud charges
against the club. "The club's actions have, at
all times, regarding that operation (to sign
Neymar) and in line with the available
information, been fully compliant with
existing law," Barca said in a statement. The
Spanish champions added they would be
sending legal representatives to court "in the
coming days" to defend their rights and
interests. "At the same time (Barca) states its
complete availability to collaborate with the
justice authorities in this process, as it has
been doing from the first moment, or in any
other that might require its intervention."

Italy’s Flavia Pennetta stunned world
number three Agnieszka Radwanska in
straight sets to earn a surprise spot in the
quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Pennetta, who narrowly avoided
being dumped out in the first round of
qualifying, reeled off eight consecutive
games to turn an ominous 4-1 deficit in
the opening set into a commanding position.
Radwanska eventually brought the
one-way traffic to a halt by breaking for
3-1 in the second set, but that proved the
Pole’s final victorious game as Pennetta
raced home for a 6-4 6-1 triumph.
"It was the first time I've beaten her
in six years - I thought I would never
beat her again," said Pennetta.
"But today I played really well. My
idea of what I had to do was clear, and I
tried to go for the points all the time.
"I made a few mistakes in the beginning - I was down 4-1, but every game
was a big fight - but I kept going and
stayed aggressive and it worked in the
end." And the seeds tumbled across the
draw as Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro
and Romania’s Sorana Cirstea claimed
the scalps of third seed Petra Kvitova and
fourth seed Sara Errani respectively.
Defeat looked inevitable for Navarro
when the Spaniard trailed 6-1 4-2, but
she responded magnificently to force a
deciding set, eventually sealing the

match 1-6 6-4 7-6(4).
World number 27 Cirstea beat Errani
6-2 5-7 6-1.
"Every single time against her I
would come close but never get the win,
but tonight I kept fighting and playing
aggressive until the end," said Cirstea.
"I never changed my game plan, no
matter what the score was. I'm happy because I kept doing that until the end, and
that's what gave me the win."
Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic and
eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki progressed to the last eight with straight-set
victories.

KRISTOFF WINS SECOND OMAN STAGE AS HOWARD TAKES LEAD
SPORTS DESK
Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) won the second stage of the
Tour of Oman as Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge) took
the overall lead of the race.

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) won the second stage
of the Tour of Oman as Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge)
took the overall lead of the race.
Kristoff picked up his first victory of 2014 by winning
a sprint finish after a 139km trek from Al Bustan to

Quriyat ahead of Howard and Tom Boonen (Quick-Step
Cycling Team) who was third.
With the peloton racing into a strong head wind,
Kirstoff attacked early to avoid problems in the lead out
and it paid dividends as he won by nearly a bike length.
Howard's second successive second placed finish
meant that he picked up more bonus seconds and he holds
a two second advantage in GC ahead of Kirstoff, stage
one winner Andre Griepel (Lotto Belisol ) and Preben Van
Hecke ( Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise)
Defending champion and Tour de France winner Chris
Froome finished safely in the peloton and is 12 seconds
down in GC. The riders observed a moment's silence before
the start of the stage in memory of Belgian rider Kristof
Goddaert, who died on Tuesday in a training accident.

PAKISTAN CAN BE
NUMBER ONE IF
BATTING CLICKS,
SAYS ZAHEER ABBAS
Lahore: Former captain Zaheer Abbas
said on Thursday that Pakistan could be
the world's best team if they improve
their batting, a frequent weakness in
the recent past. Pakistan were bowled
out for their lowest Test total of 49 by
South Africa in Johannesburg during a
3-0 rout last year. They were also
bundled out for 99 in the Dubai Test
against the same opposition in October
and were below par in the Champions
Trophy in England, where they lost all
three matches. Pakistan hired
Australian Trent Woodhill for a brief
three-week stint in June last year as
batting coach and now have Zaheer
Abbas as chief cricket consultant. The
66-year-old Abbas is helping the
faltering batsmen in a four-day camp to
prepare for next week's Asia Cup in
Bangladesh. "I will do my best to help
the batsmen overcome their problems
and I am sure if our batting improves
we can be the world's top team," he
told reporters. Pakistan have failed to
find a suitable opening pair in all three
formats, and their shaky middle order
relies heavily on the ageing Younis
Khan and captain Misbah-ul Haq. "What
I have noticed is that they want to
learn, which is a good thing, and I will
try to help them play according to the
situation," said Abbas, the only Asian
batsman to score a hundred centuries
in first-class cricket. Pakistan will wrap
up the four-day training camp on Friday
and fly out to Dhaka the next day,
where they open their Asia Cup title
defence with a match against Sri Lanka
on Tuesday. AGENCIES

PAKISTAN WIN FIRST
ONE-DAYER IN BLIND
CRICKET SERIES

KaraChI: Pakistan sealed a thrilling
three-wicket victory in the first of three
one-dayers in the Sindh government
Pakistan-India Blind Cricket series on
Wednesday at Southend Cricket
Stadium in Karachi. Chasing a sizeable
419 in the 40-over match, Pakistan
were 20 for 1, losing Zahid Mehmood
cheaply to a brilliant direct throw from
Ajay Reddy. After that, Anees Javed and
Muhammad Zafar steadied the innings
and took Pakistan past the 200-run
mark, but another good fielding effort
produced a wicket as Zafar was run out
for 90. Javed, though, was
irrepressible, unfurling one boundary
after another and fell only after blasting
his way to 163 off 91 balls. Nisar Ali
then hit 74 off 47 balls to steer Pakistan
to a three-wicket win in the 39th over.
Javed was named Man of the Match for
his whirlwind innings. Opting to bat
first, centuries from Ketan Patel and
Hatesh propelled India to 418 in 40
overs. After 26 overs, India had 290
runs on the board, but Patel perished
after a 67-ball 126 and the run-rate
went down quite noticeably. Hatesh,
however, ensured the foundation built
by Patel did not go to waste, slamming
109 in 79 balls. AGENCIES

SPORTS
Friday, 21 February, 2014

KUMAR SANGAKKARA'S
100TH 50 PLUS SCORE
IN ONE DAYERS

Elgar shinEs

Scoreboard

but australia hold thE EdgE
Port elizabeth

S Pervez QaiSer
Kumar Sangakkara became only the
fourth batsman to make 100 or more
50 plus scores in one day
internationals. The left hand batsman
from Matale achieved this feat by
making 128 in 115 balls with 14 fours
in the second match of the threematch series against Bangladesh at
Shere Bangla National Stadium,
Mirpur, Dhaka on Thursday (February
20). It was his 17th century in 341
innings of 364 one day internationals
matches. Besides 17 hundreds, Kumar
Sangakkara also scored 83 fifites in
these matches. Kumar Sangakkara's
128 was the highest score by a Sri
Lankan batsman against Bangaldesh
in Bangladesh and second highest
ever after Sanath Jayasuriya's 130 at
Karachi on June 30,2008. Upul
Tharanga's unbeaten 118 off 126 balls
with 18 fours at Dhaka on January
8,2010 was the previous highest for
Sri Lanka against Bangaldesh in
Bangladesh. India's Sachin Tendulkar
holds the record of scoring the highest
number of fifty plus scores in one day
internationals. The master blaster
scored 49 hundreds and 96 fifties,
145 fifty plus scores in 452 innings of
463 matches between 1989 and 2012.
Australian Ricky Ponting made 112
fifty plus scores, 30 hundreds and 82
fifties in 365 innings of 375 one day
internationals while South Africa
Jacques Kallis played 103 fifty plus
knocks, 17 hundreds and 86 fifties, in
311 innings of 325 one day
internationals.

he opening day at St George's
Park was less traumatic for South
Africa than the four in Centurion
as Dean elgar shone on his return
to the side, but loose strokes in
the evening session left them vulnerable.
They avoided the sort of performance that
could have handed the series to Australia
on a plate - and which threatening to develop during a rough first half an hour only to slip as the light faded on an overcast day to close on 214 for 5.
A third-wicket stand of 112 between
elgar and Faf du Plessis provided the cornerstone of the innings. however they will
rue the strokes played by elgar who, having fought for nearly five hours and 193
balls, tried to clear the in-field against
Nathan Lyon and then debutant Quinton de
Kock who became the latest batsman to
fall to a Steven Smith full toss. AB de Villiers, the only batsman to counter Australia
in the first Test, remained unbeaten 51 as
he made it a world record of 12 consecutive Tests with at least a half century.
South Africa have lengthened their
batting order for this Test - elgar was in
line for a recall and de Kock was called in
when Alviro Petersen was ruled out ill - so
they still have the chance to post something around 350 and challenge Australia
with scoreboard pressure which has been
rare in the last few months.
The opening exchanges did not bode
well for South Africa. The lead-up to the
toss was chaotic with uncertainty over Vernon Philander's fitness to go alongside the
three team changes. Some hasty scribbling
eventually put Philander on the teamsheet, but it was perhaps no surprise that
Graeme Smith departed early when he
played around a full, swinging delivery
from the probing Ryan harris on a muggy
morning.
In the next over, from Mitchell Johnson, hashim Amla was firstly beaten by a
ball that swung in from outside off and
then trapped lbw by another delivery that
did the same but had been pitched
straighter. It gave Johnson his 50th Test
wicket since the beginning of the Ashes
and few would have bet against him
quickly adding No. 51, but that is not how
the day unfolded.
elgar was still on nought by the time

Smith and Amla departed. On his only previous appearance against Australia, on his
debut in Perth, he bagged a pair and it took
him 20 deliveries and 43 minutes for him
to score his first run against this opposition.
however, during that wait to open his
account he had not appeared ruffled. his
composure was further evident when he
slog-swept Lyon for six to register his first
boundary and he later deposited the offspinner straight down the ground. Between
those grand shots there was good judge-

ment around off stump, the occasional
punchy cover drive, plenty of nudges into
the leg side and no little bravery as he was
willing to take blows around the body
from Johnson.
There was also the occasional edge when he was 15 a combination of soft
hands and the slow pitch meant a nick fell
short of Brad haddin - but, by and large,
he was in control as he brought up a 112ball half-century.
Du Plessis played equally impressively and it was he who eased the early

shackles imposed by Australia's bowlers
with a brace of cover drives off Peter Siddle. he, too, used his feet against Lyon and
shortly after lunch clipped him over deep
midwicket for six.
Two boundaries in three balls against
Johnson, the second a well-controlled pull,
took him to his fifty from 117 balls but he
fell moments later to the curse of the drinks
break when he prodded forward against
Lyon and popped a catch to short leg. A soft
dismissal which emphasised the absence of
the ruthlessness with the bat that characterised South Africa's rise to No. 1
however, it had been a rare occasion
of Australia having to work for a wicket:
this was only the second century stand
they have conceded since the beginning of
the Ashes. The other belonged to Kevin
Pietersen and Joe Root during the second
innings in Adelaide. Their bowling rarely
wavered and Johnson remained a threat
despite the slowness of the pitch.
Without Shane Watson's medium pace,
the value of Lyon in keeping the scoring
rate down and chipping key wickets was
priceless for Michael Clarke. he continued
to use harris and Johnson in short spells,
and both were primed for late bursts before
the light closed in. Moments earlier Smith
had done his job when, in a first over the
largely consisted of long hops and full
tosses, de Kock came down the pitch to a
one that did not land and heaved an ugly
mow to mid-off.
De Villiers reached his half-century
from 124 balls - an indication of how hard
the batsmen were made to work - when he
pulled another half-tracker from Smith.
That was enough for Clarke who, when
told he could not use his quicks, was content to leave the field. South Africa know
what will hit them in the morning.

SRI LANKA CLINCH SERIES AFTER SANGAKKARA CENTURY
Scoreboard

MirPur
aGeNcIeS

Kumar Sangakkara's 17th ODI hundred
was everything Sri Lanka needed to win the
ODI series with a game in hand. But since
their opponents were always going to pose
a threat to their 289-run total, they also
needed Bangladesh's batsmen to come up
with a string of needless dismissals to ensure the 2-0 win.
having gone down by 61 runs in Mirpur, Bangladesh lost their first bilateral ODI
series at home since December 2011. Since
then, they have beaten West Indies 3-2 and
New Zealand 3-0. Bangladesh's personnel
hasn't changed much since those triumphs,
but there was a marked difference in their
approach, in this series, to the simplest
tasks on the field. Sachithra Senanayake,
Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera and Ajantha
Mendis took two wickets each, but the Sri
Lankan bowlers merely had to bowl a good
length, sometimes fuller, and the fielders
grab the catches. The real work was done
by the home batsmen.
Shamsur Rahman dabbed at a wide one
to be caught spectacularly at second slip in
the first over, before Anamul haque and
Mominul haque added 55 runs for the second wicket. That partnership ended when
Mominul was brilliantly caught behind by
Sangakkara, his most sublime work of the
day, even surpassing his century. Anamul
had attacked Malinga during his 46-ball 42,
but his innings ended when he was lbw to
an incoming delivery from Thisara Perera

in the 14th over.
What should have been the most mature period of play actually turned out to be
just the opposite. Mushfiqur Rahim and
Shakib Al hasan swung at everything
within their reach. Mushfiqur swung Perera
off his hips to pick up a six and followed it
up with two fours in the same over. Kithuruwan Vithanage then dropped Shakib, a
difficult chance at midwicket.
Shakib continued hitting out, slogging
Mathews for a six and two more boundaries
down the ground off successive deliveries
before holing out to Ashan Priyanjan's offspin, caught at long-off. It was an ugly shot,
completely unbecoming of a batsman who

had just become the country's highest runscorer in ODIs.
Mushfiqur then called for a single, but
sent Mahmudullah back halfway through
his run; he was easily run out at the bowler's
end. Nasir hossain hung around for a while
before holing out at deep square-leg, ending
Bangladesh's hopes at 153 for 5. Mushfiqur
moved to 79 but there was no one left at the
other end for a proper tilt at the chase.
Bangladesh had another bad day as a
fielding unit too. Nasir hossain put down a
tough chance off Priyanjan at deep midwicket when the batsman was on 2. Sri
Lanka were 67 for 3 at that point. Mahmudullah dropped a dolly off an Angelo

Mathews scoop when he was on 39, at short
fine-leg. Mominul haque, safe as house at
other times, dropped Vithanage twice, once
at deep midwicket and once in the covers,
the second chance a regulation one.
It was Priyanjan and Sangakkara who
hauled the visitors out of trouble. Sangakkara in particular was brilliant in picking the right balls to find boundaries but got
things ticking with well-timed ones and
twos. They added 114 in 24 overs, both
striking some sublime boundaries.
After Priyanjan's dismissal, Sangakkara
and Mathews swelled the total with an 83run stand in less than ten overs with the big
hits coming from the captain's bat. San-

gakkara upped the run-rate with some
timely boundaries, and Kusal Perera and
Dinesh Chandimal might have learned a lot
from watching how he paced his innings.
Perera was the first to go, giving Shamsur Rahman an easy catch at backward
point in Rubel hossain's first over.
Tillekaratne Dilshan continued to struggle,
getting out to the same bowler after a topedged hoick went into mid-off's hands
rather than over midwicket as intended. Dinesh Chandimal soon joined the openers in
the dressing room, offering a simple catch
to Shamsur at short midwicket. Sohag Gazi
made the ball dip on him, but it wasn't an
unplayable delivery.